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FR. PASCHALIS ROBINSON, O. F. M.. 

Censor Deputatus Terrae Sanctae. 







Die 18 Dec. 1913. 



In obedience to the decrees of Pope Urban 
VIII, we declare that for the events narrated 
in this book no other authority is claimed than 
that resting on merely human evidence; and 
that the appellation of Saint or Blessed to any 
person not canonised or beatified by the 
Church, is only in accordance with the usage 
or opinion of men; and that in all things we 
submit to the authority of the Apostolic See. 



Cdpyiight, 1914 
Commissariat of the Holy Land 



JAN 22 I9!4 



(g.CI,A3G'j:j'jU 



t- 



W<^ of (Jtontrats 



^^ Foreword ^ 

Introduction 1^ 

^ The Coming of the Friars 15 

The Dedication _-i- 18 

Scope and PIvAn of the Buii^dings 22 

The Centrai. Altar-: 28 

The Holy Sepulchre -. '— 32 

The Altar of Thabor -tl 

The Chapel of St. Francis 49 

The Chapel of Penance 56 

The Altar of the Holy Ghost ^^ 60 

The Lady Chapel 62 

The Altar of Calvary 66 

The Chapel of St. Antony. 71 

The Altar of the Sacred Heart __ 78 

The Chapel of St. Joseph 82 

The Grotto of Nazareth 85 

The Catacombs 8^ 

The Martyr's Crypt i 92 

The Purgatory ChapEl 95 

The Grotto of Bethlehem 101 

A Glimpse of the Monastery 105 



The Grotto of Lourdes 108 

The Alverna Chapel H^ 

The Canticle of the Sun 118 

The Cemetery 1^0 

The Order of Friars Minor and Its Mis- 
sions IN THE Church 124 

The Franciscan Apostolate 128 

The Third Order of St. Francis 135 

Devotions Founded by the Franciscans. 138 

Influence of the Order of St. Francis 
IN THE Church and on Society 142 

The Order of St. Francis in America.. 149 

St. Francis and the Holy Land 151 

The Commissariat of the Holy Land__ 156 

Crusade for the Holy Land___ 158 

The Collfxe of the Holy Land 163 

Laborers for the Harvest 167 

Religious Life 174 

The Librarian's Request 180 

Salvation of the Dying 181 

The Christogram 182 

Our Benefactors 184 

A Word of Thanks 188 

Brookland electric car line, which now brings 
Monastery 189 

Blessing of St. Francis 191 




Dear Visitor: 

This little hook will accompany you hack 
into the world, and will remind you of the 
solitude of Mt, St. Sepulchre. May it often 
recall to your mind the cherished shrines of 
our holy religion: Nazareth, Bethlehem, and 
Jerusalem, where God has manifested His 
exceedingly great love toward men. 

Our prayers will ascend to the throne of the 
Most High for those who have stood in this 
temple, and in return we heg you to rememher 
in your charity the needs of this House of 
God, and also the good work which is carried 
on here for the Holy Land, the country which 
was once the home of Jesus, our Saviour. 

The Franciscan Fathers of the Holy Land, 

Mount St. Sepulchre, 
Washington, D. C. 




I 



35 ■< 






OREWORD 

The cordial reception 
given by the public to the 
two previous editions of 
the Guide to Mount St. 
Shpui^chre:, and the con- 
tinual request for a third, encourage us to ^ 
proceed with this labor of love. The lively 
interest awakened in the hearts of the thou- 
sands, who look for the first time on f ac-simile 
reproductions of the Holy Shrines of Pales- 
tine, prompts both the natural request for 
more detailed information concerning those 
scenes of Christ's Life and Passion, so dear 
to every Christian heart; and the other no 
less natural desire of every pilgrim-heart,— 
the acquisition of some fitting and lasting re- 
membrance of monuments so intimately con- 
nected with our eternal welfare. 

But the interest of the public does not end 
there. It has expressed its desire to know 
more about the Good Work of the Holy Land, 
which is carried on in this country by the 
Commissariat, established in the Monastery. 
In this modest booklet our endeavor has been 



to satisfy, as far as brevity will permit, this 
equally natural request. For the past thirty 
years this work has gone on, slowly but surely 
gaining in the hearts of all Christian people' 
and it IS our fervent hope that this little Guide 
Book will bring the good work of the Cru- 
sade of the Holy Land to the knowledge of 
many who have never heard of it, to the end 
that they, too, may co-operate in the mainte- 
nance and preservation of the Sacred Shrines 
of our holy religion in Palestine. 

This new edition has, besides the above 
other reasons for its third appearance. The 
various changes both within and without the 
Monastery,— changes brought about by the 
scope of the great work and mission of the 
building, have necessitated a revision of the 
Guide Book to bring it up to date with the 
different improvements and embellishments, 
made since the foundation of Mount St' 
Sepulchre fifteen years ago, and of which no 
mention is made in the two former editions. 
These new features will be found properly 
treated in their respective places in the new 
Guide. 

Access to the Monastery has also been 
greatly facilitated by the extension of the 
Brookland electric car line, which now brings 
visitors from the Union Station or any part 
of the city of Washington, to within two 



10 



blocks of "The Monastery," whence a cement 
sidewalk leads up to the door of the church 
In conclusion we give thanks to God for all 
the benefits received at His hands, and in His 
Divine Providence we trust for the future In 
all our undertakings we seek, in the words of 
the Royal Prophet, nothing but the glory of 
God "I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of 
Thy house and the place where Thy glory 
dwelleth" (F.. XXV, 8). All our efforts are 
directed to spread a love for *e Holy Land 
and to promote the preservation of the bacred 
Shrines, which holy Mother Church has always 
venerated as the great monuments of o"^/^ 
Faith, applying to herself the words of the 
Psalmist: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let 
my right hand be forgotten" {Ps. cxxxvx, 5) 
We invoke on our work the protection of 
our Blessed Lady, the fatherly blessing of 
our holy Patriarch St, Francis, and the 
brotherly assistance of our dear advocate 
St. Antony. 

The Commissariat of the Holy Land, 
Mount St. Sepulchre, Washington, D. C. 



11 





o 



N a wooded 
eminence over- 
looking the Catholic 
University and the 
adjacent town of 
Brookland, the Church 
and Commissariat of the Holy Land rise in 
simple and solitary grandeur. The beautiful 
location is well adapted to its purpose by 
reason of its complete seclusion, yet accessi- 
bility from the city. Following the example 
of the great Saints of the Seraphic Order, 
the Friars selected a hill for the site of their 
Monastery and named it Mount Saint Sepul- 
chre. 

A few years ago no visitor would have con- 
sidered it worth while to wend his way towards 
this secluded spot, which then contained the 
old home of the McCeeney family. During 
the first half of the last century, the place 
was well cultivated and prosperous. But later 
on, years of neglect and carelessness wrought 
their work, leaving the old estate in a desolate 
condition. The beautiful trees had fallen a 
prey to the axe of the vandal, the well-culti- 
vated orchard had disappeared, and the fields 



12 




had almost returned to their primitive state, 
abounding in briars and wild shrubbery. 

Such was its forlorn aspect when one day 
in August, 1897, a stranger visited it. Despite 
its neglected appearance, he could not fail to 
see the rich possibilities that lay before him. 
The isolated position on the spur of a hill, 
which prevents any obstruction and crowding 
by neighbors, the varied nature of the grounds, 
the grove on one hand and the slope on the 
other, the fertile lowlands ; all this framed by 
a view of unsurpassed beauty so aroused his 
admiration that with the Psalmist he ex- 
claimed: "This is my rest forever and ever; 
here will I dwell for I have chosen it." 
(Ps. cxxxi, 14.) 

Before his mind arose a wonderful vision 
which was soon to become a reality. Like 
Friar Bernardine Caimo, who, in 1491, founded 
the famous shrines of Mt. Varallo in Italy, 
where the scenes of the Life and Passion of 
our Lord are represented in fifty chapels, he 
had conceived during his sojourn in the Holy 
Land the idea of transplanting, as it were, 
into the New World the chief sanctuaries of 
our redemption, where those who never would 
have the happiness of visiting Palestine could 
view them in fac-simile. 

No place seemed better adapted for the reali- 
zation of this project and more fit for a monas- 



13 



5 



tery than this ideal spot, where, away from the 
world, the hearts and lips of its dwellers could 
send forth an incense of continual prayer. 

Retracing his steps the stranger left the 
lonely hill. But this was not all. Months later 
the people of Washington were surprised by 
the news of the sale of the McCeeney estate, 
and rumor had it that it was to become the 
home of a religious community. 

Meanwhile the Holy See had sanctioned the 
transfer of the Commissariat of the Holy 
Land and the foundation of a College for that 
Mission, His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons had 
graciously received the Franciscan Fathers 
into his diocese, and the Catholic University 
kindly extended a welcome to this new 
affiliation. 

Then it was definitely made known that the 
Franciscan Fathers had acquired the lovely 
spot on the mount, and a few Brothers were 
sent from the Commissariat of the Holy Land 
in New York to make such improvements on 
the grounds as the future needs of the insti- 
tution would warrant. 



14 




®)^ (Jomins of ftf lFmr0 

IKE the pioneers of old, the Httle colony of 
^ i ■ Friars had to suffer many hardships. They 
were alone and strangers, poorly supplied with 
the barest necessities of life, yet they turned 
eagerly to their task. They divided their time 
between earnest prayer and hard work. Early 
in the morning they would trudge through the 




snow in the face of icy blasts that they might 
assist at or serve the first Mass in the little 
village church. 

Under their steadfast toil the desolate aspect 
of the grounds soon passed away, and in its 

15 







3 
O 

k 

t 

IS 



place a garden, then a vineyard and an orchard 
appeared. Briars gave way to the onslaught 
of the plow, and tilled fields sprang up in the 
wilderness. A view from the hill in the spring 
of 1899 showed a panorama of carefully ar- 
ranged fields, well cared for and cultivated 
and framed by paths and by-ways lined with 

young trees.- 

Early in February of 1898 ground was 
broken for the new building which today 
crowns the hilltop and the corner-stone was 
laid on the feast of St. Joseph, March 19, of 
the same year. From the very beginning, the 
building of the Monastery aroused intense 
interest in the city of Washington, and some 
of the wildest reports were circulated in the 
papers. The outlines of the foundation showed 
a plan of quite unusual shape, so that the 
numerous visitors were puzzled to the utter- 
most as to the meaning of this novel structure. 
But time passed on, the builders labored, and 
slowly but solemnly rose the walls of the 
College of the Commissariat of the Holy Land. 



17 




"The Most High has sanctified His own tabernacle/* 
(Ps. xlv, 5.) 

THE Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis, 
September 17, 1899, saw the dedication of 
the Church and Monastery. Clear and calm, 
the dawning woke into a most beautiful day, 
whose very air seemed to breathe the spirit 
of the occasion, rest and holy quiet. The 
solemn exercises of the dedication began at 10 
o'clock, when the procession formed and passed 
around the Church and through the cloister of 
the Monastery, which was blessed by Cardinal 
Gibbons, attended by Bishop Blenk, of Porto 
Rico, and Mgr. Stephan, head of the Indian 
Missions, and Mgr. Sbarretti, and a throng of 
visiting priests, secular and regular. Through 
the Monastery and to the door of the Church 
the procession passed, solemnly dedicating the 
walls erected to the service of the Most High. 
As the priests passed up the aisle of the Chapel 
the Litany of the Saints was intoned. 




18 



PERMISSION, BACHARACH & BRO., PHILA, PA. 

His Eminence, James Cardinal Gibbons 

At the beginning of the Solemn Pontifical 
Mass the large Church was thronged, and 
great crowds gathered about the doorways. 
Mgr. Martinelli, the Apostolic Delegate, was 
the celebrant and occupied a throne, draped 
with white and yellow, the Papal colors, on 
the Epistle side of the church. Opposite sat 
His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons, on a throne 
of scarlet. The other officers of the Mass 
were the Rev. Dr. Garrigan, of the Catholic 
University, now Bishop of Sioux City, assistant 
priest; the Rev. John BandinelH, C.P., of 
Baltimore, deacon of' the Mass; the Very Rev. 
Chrysostom Theobald, O.F.M., of Cincinnati, 
sub-deacon; the Rev. J. P. Moran, O.P., and 
Rev. John J. Whitney, SJ., then president of 
Georgetown University, deacons of honor, and 

19 



the Rev. G. A. Dougherty, now Vice-Rector of 
the Catholic University, master of ceremonies. ^ 
A choir of sixty male voices sang the deep, ! 
soul-reaching tones of Gounod's Second Mass. 
The Very Rev. L. F. Kearney, Provincial of 
the Dominicans, delivered a sermon of re- 
markable eloquence, carrying out the tradition 
by which the Dominican Fathers have been 
often represented at Franciscan celebrations, 
in token of the friendship and sympathy 
between the founders of the two Orders. 

A host of Knights of Columbus, who had 
taken charge of the occasion, were present at 
the services. They included more than one 
thousand from Washington, several hundred 
from Philadelphia, a great number from Balti- 
more, and groups to the number of 300 were 
from New York, Indianapolis, New Orleans, 
Wilmington, Del., Altoona, Pa., Syracuse, N. Y., 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., Chester, Pa., Atlantic 
City and Richmond. After the Mass, the Rt. 
Rev. James H. Blenk, now Archbishop of New 
Orleans, La., blessed the little chapel of Mt. 
Alverna in the woods. In the afternoon, after 
the Solemn Vespers, the Knights, amid the 
cheers of a multitude, raised two flags in front 
of the Church, the National banner and the 
emblem of the Holy Land, thus in a sense 
pledging the United States to the work of 
redeeming the Sacred Places. Many speeches 

20 



were made dwelling on the work of the Friars 
Minor in America, and prophesymg glorious 
achievements for the future. Throughout the 
day, until dusk, crowds continued to pour into 
the Church so that it is thought at least ten 
thousand entered its doors on the day of the 

Dedication. 

And then the joyous ceremonies, the pomp 
and splendor of the day completed, the crim- 
son rays of the setting sun gilded tower and 
cross, roof and dome, and the peaceful quiet 
of the twilight gave way to the more peaceful 
quiet of the moonlit night. The stillness lay 
upon the land as a benediction. It was as if 
the blessing of St. Francis himself had been 

fulfilled: J „ 

"May He turn His countenance towards thee 

and give thee peace." 




21 




^mt mtd Plan of tdf Bniliitods 

"And they shall make me a Sanctuary, and I will 
dwell in the midst of them." {Exod. xxv, 8.) 

VER since Mount St. 
Sepulchre was opened 
to the public, this unique 
Memorial of the Holy- 
La n d has attracted 
numberless visitors, and 
a continuous stream of 
pilgrims flow through 
its portals to view the 
sacred halls, so beautiful in their simplicity, 
and the Holy Shrines reproduced there with 
faithful exactitude. 

Everything there proclaims the scope of its 
erection. The Shrines remind the visitors of 
the Good Work of the Holy Land, of which 
Mount St. Sepulchre is the headquarters in 
the United States of America. 

The general architectural outlines of the 
Church are of Byzantine style, with a slight 
transition to the Italian Renaissance in its 
details, so that the artistic effects of the great 
Hagia Sofia and the beautiful Certosa of 
Pavia have been adapted to Franciscan sim- 
plicity. The Church is built in the shape of a 
five-fold cross, which was the coat-of-arms of 



22 




Ktu to ?latt of Church 



1. Main ■ Entrance. 

2. Centre Altar. 

3. Holy Sepulchre. 

4. Stairway to Mt. Thabor. 

5. Chapel of Penance. , 

6. Chapel of St. Francis. 

7. Holy Ghost Altar. 

Note: Mt. Calvary is above 
the Grottoes is the stairway in 



8. 

9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 



Chapel of Bl. Virgin 
Statue: "Ecce Homo. 
Statue: "The Scourging. 
Chapel of St. Antony. 
Sacred Heart Altar 
Chapel of St. Joseph. 
Sacristy. 

Ko. 1. Entrance to 
front of No. 12. 



the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, adopted by 
Godfrey of Bouillon; the large cross forming 
the main body of the Church and the small 
crosses being utilized as chapels. This emblem 
is reproduced in the pavement of the Church 
in Venetian mosaic, so that the whole struc- 
ture, resting thereon, declares at once the 
scope and plan of the institution itself. This 
cross, which appears again and again in Mount 
St. Sepulchre, is symbolic of the Five Wounds 
of our Lord. It greets the pilgrim from the 
gable of the Church and is never absent from 
his sight, reminding him continuously of the 
Mission of the Holy Land. 

The center aisle of the large cross has at 
the entrance of the Church a portico which 
supports the altar of Calvary. At the other 
end is the sanctuary and the Holy Sepulchre, 
the point of attraction for which the whole 
structure has been arranged. The two ex- 
tremities of the transepts of the Church are 
closed off by two elegant apses, to which light 
enters through a series of arched windows. 
The general decoration is principally formed 
by the eight entrances into the chapel. This 
triple arch serves also as a base for the 
upper arches, which increase the light in 
the two first chapels and form windows in 
the two choirs above the rear chapels. These 
arches again support the upper windows, so 

24 



that the whole arrangement of rows of columns 
and arches of various sizes forms an elegant 
ornamentation of the Church. The ceilmg is 
partly vaulted and partly flat and is ornamented 
with panels and rosettes of various designs. 

The light in the church is agreeably tem- 
pered by the beautiful stained-glass windows, 
donated by various benefactors. The fine 
workmanship, the exquisite blending of colors 
give to the windows a real artistic value and 
add a special feature of attraction to the 
church. In nearly all of them are figured 
Saints of the three Orders of St. Francis who 
seem to step out of their frames to welcome 
the visitor, inviting him to prayer and medi- 
tation. They are the figures of holy men and 
women of the last seven centuries renowned 
for learning, apostolic zeal, piety and works 
of charity, who gave up their lives to God and 
followed our Lord on the narrow path of the 
evangelical counsels in the Seraphic Order of 
St Francis of Assisi. When the evening sun 
sends its golden rays into the furch these 
resplendent forms shine out with wonderfu 
brightness, which seems to reflect the eternal 
bliss of the Saints, verifying the words of Uie 
Psalmist, as it were, "This glory is to all His 
saints" (Ps. cxlix, 9). The votaries of the 
world may have ridiculed them for their piety 
and austere life, but the day will come when 
they will say within themselves : These are 



25 



they whom we had some time in derision, and 
for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed 
their Hfe madness, and their end without 
honor. Behold, now they are numbered among 
the children of God, and their lot is among 
the Saints" (Wisdom v, 3-5). 

It has already been mentioned that the Holy 
Sepulchre forms the main point of attraction 
in the church. Indeed, there is to be found 
the Holy Sepulchre, precisely as it exists in 
Jerusalem with all its decorations Two 
marble stairways on either side of it lead up 
to the Altar of Thabor. On either side of this 
Altar, and on a level with it, are the entrances 
to the choirs which are set apart for the 
religious exercises of the Community. 

In the apses in both extremities of the 
transepts are entrances to the underground 
chapels, the one on the Epistle side of the 
Church being a reproduction of the Grotto o 
Nazareth, and the one to the Gospel side, of 
the Grotto of Bethlehem. These two Grottoes 
are connected with each other by an under- 
ground passage in the shape of the Catacombs 
of Rome, which has in its center a Crypt m 
imitation of the ancient sepulchral chambers 
where an altar was erected over the tomb of 
some eminent martyr. 

From this crypt another underground cor- 
ridor leads to the subterranean Chapel of the 
Suffering Souls. 



27 




Wit (^tntrtA %\m 

'I will go in to the Altar of God." (Ps. xlii, 4.) 

POX entering the church 
the eye instinctively 
rests on the main 
ahar, which is a novel 
feature of the sacred 
temple, as it stands in 
the center of the 
church directly under 
the cupola. This im- 
posing structure has been erected by the 
munificence of generous benefactors. It is 
dedicated to the mystery of the most Holy 
Trinity, and forms, as it were, the nucleus 
around which all the other altars cluster as in 
a crown, and toward which they face in silent 
adoration. 

This altar, made of native white marble, is 
perfectly square, presenting the same view 
from all sides. It is covered by a large marble 
table, but has no tabernacle, as the Blessed Sac-, 
rament is not reserved here. Neither has it 
any ornament, except a large crucifix in the 
centre and six candlesticks. The altar is sur- 
mounted by a canopy supported by four col- 
umns, representing the four Evangelists; 



28 




The Central Altar 





from the canopy hang twelve 
lamps in honor of the twelve 
Apostles. The whole structure 
is of Byzantine style, thus har- 
monizing with the architecture 
of the church. 

Solemn high mass is cele- 
brated at this altar on Sun- 
days and Feast-days, and on 
the afternoons of the same 
festivals Benediction with the 
Blessed Sacrament is also given 
from here to the people. It is 
an impressive sight to see our 
Lord being carried down from 
Thabor to spend a while among 
His faithful children, to receive 
their homage, and to impart to 
them His divine blessing. Truly 
does this remind us of the words 
of Holy Scripture : ''My delights 
were to be with the children of 
men." (Prov. viii, 31.) 

Directly behind the High Altar in the east 
end of the church is the Holy Sepulchre. 

Before reaching this Holy Shrine in Jeru- 
salem is venerated the Stone of Unction, 
where the Sacred Body of our Lord was 
anointed for burial. The rock upon which it 
was placed is protected from profane hands 




30 



by a slab of reddish stone, encased in black 
and white marble. This holy place is illum- 
inated by a row of lamps hanging over it 
and by large candelabra at the four corners. 
We now enter the Holy Sepulchre. 




31 



(^rl^ols SfpQlr^it 




|HE Holy Sepulchre has 
always been the centre 
of attraction to Chris- 
tians of all ages. The 
Crusaders shed their 
blood freely for its re- 
covery, and throughout 
the Middle Ages resound 
the words : "God help us and the Holy Sepul- 
chre." The reason of such a religious venera- 




OrigiTtal Tomb of Christ 

1. Ante-Chamber. 2. Burial Chamber. 

3. Rolling Stone. 



32 











'' His'Sepulchre shall be 
glorious. (Isaias xi, 10.) 

"And if Christ be not 
risen again, then is our 
preaching vain and your 
faith is also vain. 

" But now Christ is risen 
from the dead, the first- 
fruits of them that sleep." 
(I Cor. XV, 14, 20). 




Entrance to the Tomb of Our Lord. 



\ 



m. 



also 



tion for this holy spot is inspired by the fact 
that the Resurrec- 
tion of Christ is 
the confirmation 
of His doctrine, so 
much so that St. 
Paul did not hesi- 
tate to say "If 
Christ be not risen 
again, then is our 
preaching in vain 
and your faith is 
vain/' (1 Cor. xv, 14.) 
The Holy Sepulchre is 
the tomb which the noble 
Joseph of Arimathea had 
prepared for himself in 
his garden only a stone's 
throw from Calvary. Ac- 
cording to the Jewish cus- 
tom the noble Israelite 
had caused it to be cut 
out from the rock, in 
tvhich a bench was left 
for the reception of the 
body. It was on this that 
Christ was laid after hav- 
ing been taken down 
from the Cross. The 
tomb had the cus- 




34 



tomary antechamber for the mourners. It is 
now called the Chapel of the Angel, because 
it was there that the Angel, sittmg on the 
rolling stone, announced to the holy women 
the glorious resurrection of Christ. 

In her holy fervor to erect a most magnifi- 
cent temple over so sacred a spot, St. Helena 
removed the hill, leaving only the tomb itself 
intact, and over this she built a beautiful 
chapel, which was called the Anastasis. This 
was in A. D. 333. Since then the Holy Sepul- 
chre has passed through many vicissitudes, 
and the present chapel was erected m its 
actual form by the Greeks after the fire of 

1808. , , 

In Jerusalem the Holy Sepulchre stands free 
in the centre of the Basilica, surrounded by 
o-alleries and surmounted by a dome. In our 
church, however, the fac-simile reproduction 
of the Holy Sepulchre has been placed against 
the wall of the eastern apse and forms the 
chief attraction. It is a perfect copy, in every 
respect of the one in Jerusalem as it exists 
today. Two artistic candelabra of Byzantine 
style, the gift of Benziger Brothers of New 
York, stand guard before the entrance. The 
fagade of the Holy Shrine shows the same 
Greek bas-reliefs as in the original. Above 
the entrance we see the Saviour triumphantly 
rising from the Tomb, while on one side the 



drowsy guards look up to Him in wild 
astonishment; on the other side an Angel an- 
nounces the glad tidings of the resurrection 
to the holy women. Adoring Angels add to 
the scene in which the sun and moon and 
stars appear as silent witnesses of the great 
event. 

A pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre has 
ever been regarded by all Christians as a 
great privilege and their feeling finds ex- 
pression in the inspiring words of St. Bernard : 
''How sweet it is to pilgrims after a long and 
wearisome journey, after many dangers by 

lands and sea, to finally 
rest where they know 
their Lord has rested! 
Oh! I think for very 
joy they must needs for- 
get lifers burdens, the 
toils and expenses of 
their journey, and think- 
ing only of the reward 
of their sacrifices after 
having persevered and 
won the race, according 
to the language of Holy 
Writ, their souls are 
filled with an inexpres- 
sible joy as they behold 
the Sepulchre." 




36 



As such an one beholds the Holy Sepulchre 
in Jerusalem, so dear to the heart of every 
► Catholic, so is the pilgrim to Mount St. Sep- 
ulchre brought face to face, as though m a 
vision, or a miracle, or through some manner 
by which time and space are annihilated, with 
the place where the Lord was laid. A minute 
ago we stood at the doorway and gazed at 
the purple hills, the distant valleys and far- 
reaching fields of America; a step, and the 

New World 
is behind us 
and forgot- 
t en — for 
surely this 
place, whose 




Actual Form of Holy Sepulchre 
1, Chapel of the Angel; 2. Tomb of Christ. 

37 



very air breathes a hol}^ calm and peace, can 
have nothing in common with the busy realms 
of commerce and the noisy marts of trade so 
recently left behind. 

Good friend and fellow-pilgrim, will you not 
kneel beside me here in prayer and make this 
pilgrimage in the same spirit that you would 
were you in reality in the Holy City? 

Through a low door we are admitted into 
the outer room of the Tomb. In the middle 
of this, supported by a low pedestal, there is 
a stone called the Stone of the Angel, the 
original of which, tradition avers, is a frag- 
ment of the very stone on which the Messen- 
ger of Heaven rested when he told the glad 
tidings on that glorious Easter morning nine- 
teen hundred years ago. The copy contains 
a stone from Jerusalem, which, so to say 
stands guard at the Saviour's Tomb in' 
America. 

And now, through another door lower even 
than the first, we reach the place where the 
body of our dear Lord was laid. From the 
ceiling of the place hang memorial lampc 
there also is a copy of Raphaels ^'Resurrec- 
tion, ' which is a fac-simile of the silver panel 
that Cardinal Antonelli donated to the Holy 
Sepulchre. Here the Tomb from which the 
baviour rises, contains the tabernacle, which 
IS the Tomb of the Eucharistic God in the 

38 



i 



Church This tabernacle is used on Maundy 
Thursday and Good Friday. A magnificent 
figure of the dead Christ reposes on the 
Holy Sepulchre, and brings vividly before our 
eyes how the Lord rested in the Tomb. 
Otherwise the room is bare and devoid of 
ornament. But here one does not seek 
beauty, the beauty of the spot is the beauty 
of holiness, the beauty that enriches the bare 
cell of the saint and hermit beyond all the 
splendors of palaces of kings and emperors. 
Before this low shelf, sheltered by marble, let 
us pray and meditate on the lessons that the 
time and place bring to our hearts. 

In order to protect the place where the 
Sacred Body reposed from the touch of pro- 
fane hands, a slab of the most perfect marble 
was placed over it Knowing well the greed 
of the Turks who would glady seize a stone 
of so much value, cunning workmen cut a 
crevice in the slab, imitating to a nicety a 
crack, such as would have resulted had the 
marble been broken across. The artifice 
served its purpose well, and, although the 
crack does not extend all the way through the 
marble, it remains in the Holy Sepulchre m 
Jerusalem today, where the pilgrim may view 
it, even as we now see it reproduced before us. 
'Though this Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre 
is only a fac-simile of the original, yet it is 



39 



indeed holy ground, for here come the Fathers 
of the convent to offer up the Divine Sacrifice. 
And as the years come and go, countless pil- 
grims will kneel here to offer up their devo- 
tions, inspired to more fervent faith by those 
striking reminders of the awful price of our 
Redemption.- It overpowers, it thrills, it fills 
the heart so full of the divine love that prayer 
rises to the lips like water from an over- 
flowing fountain. 

America paid its first official tribute to the 
Tomb of our Saviour in 1889, when, entering 
into the spirit of Christian nations, the mem- 
bers of the first American Catholic pilgrimage 
laid a silk banner of the Stars and Stripes on 
the Holy Sepulchre. Ten years later in 1899 
the same banner was hoisted at the Dedication 
of Mount St. Sepulchre— over the Tomb of 
Christ in America. 



40 




■'And He was transfigured before them." (.Matt, 
xvii, 2.) 

,BOVE the Holy Sepul- 
chre is the Altar of 
Thabor, erected in 
commemoration of the 
Transfiguration of our 

Lord. 

In the centre of 
Gahlee, Mount Thabor 
rises towards the sky 
like a mighty high altar, from which the Lord 
on the day of the Transfiguration radiated 
His divine glory over all the surroundmg 
country. In fact, it was like a heavenly Ben- 
ediction service, in which His resplendent 
Body must have shone out, as from a celes- 
tial remonstrance, to the bewildered people 
who saw the mountain glowing in surpassmg 

brilliancy. . , , 

A panorama of wondrous beauty unfolds 
itself to the pilgrim, visiting this privileged 
mountain. The snow-capped head of the 
Great Hermon rises to the north; the un- 
broken chain of the Hauran stretches to the 
east; the silvered waves of the Mediterraneari 
sparkle in the west, while to the south extend 

41 




the verdant plains and undu- 
lating hills of Samaria. The 
summit of Thabor is an irregu- 
lar platform and has on it the 
ruins of an extensive fortress 
and ancient churches. Early in 
the fourth centur}^ a Basilica 
was erected, and in the sixth mention is made 
of three churches on Mount Thabor. Later 
the Benedictines founded an Abbey there. 
Nothing remains today but a vast pile of ma- 
jestic ruins, which were visited in 1889 by 
the first Cathohc Pilgrimage from the United 
States to the Holy Land. The memory of the 
Transfiguration, the fine remains of the 
BasiHca, and the beautiful scenes all around 
them, made a lasting impression on the pious 
pilgrims, who, in their enthusiasm, declared 
their intention of rebuilding the ancient church 
on the spot where the Divinity of Christ had 
been so wondrously set forth. The execution 
of that solemn pledge, binding this glorious 



42 




The Holy Sepulchre and the Altar of Mt. Thabor 




Republic to rebuild that Shrine of Christ's 
glory, has been temporarily delayed, but we 
cherish the fond hope that the promise will 
be redeemed in the near future to the honor 
of our generous country, the youngest daugh- 
ter of Mother Church. 

To our Altar of Thabor access is given by 
two flights of stairs, closed to the public, ex- 
cepting for Holy Communion, when, like the 
favored Apostles, Peter, James and John, the 
faithful are admitted to the intimate com- 
panionship of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament to 
share, as it were, in the glorious vision and 
the promise of blessedness, and to receive at 



44 



^ 




II I 



i i i I ;- 






i^TTT 



If 




^^^fe-; 



that divine fountain of all graces encourage- 
ment and consolation amidst the trials of life. 

Above the Altar is a beautiful panel of the 
Transfiguration, made after the conception of 
Dore. A break in the clouds shows the sub- 
lime figure of the Lord, with Moses on the 
right holding the table of the Law. On the 
left, Elias in the fervor of his love is looking 
up to the Expected of the Nations in an ador- 
ing attitude. Angels appear in the sky and 
the scene below contains the hills of Galilee, 
and, to the left, a glimpse of the Sea of 
Genesareth. 

The Blessed Sacrament is reserved in this 
highest and most prominent part of the 
Church, because it is meet that the Lord, to 
whom all creatures must look up, should re- 
side as on a Throne of majesty. 



45 



This is the Cenacle where the sanctuary 
lamp proclaims His continual presence and in- 
dicates to us that it IS His delight to be with 
the children of men. Our holy Father, St. 
Francis, had always the greatest love and 
devotion for this adorable Sacrament and for 
everything connected with It, even to revere 
more than an angel from Heaven the low- 
liest priest on earth, because, as he says in 
his Testament : "Afterwards the Lord gave 
me so great faith in priests * * * because I 
discern the Son of God in them and they are 
my masters. And this I do because in this 
world I see nothing bodily of the most high 
Son of God Himself except His most sacred 
Body and His most holy Blood, which they 
consecrate and which they only administer to 
others." 

Indeed, such was St. Francis' reverence for 
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, that for It, 
he for once forgot his beloved poverty, and 
gave orders that his brethren should procure 
precious ciboria for the churches where they 
found that the Sacred Host was not reposing 
in a vessel worthy of Him. His great zeal 
for the Divine Prisoner of the Tabernacle 
knew no bounds ; he even "in all reverence 
and kissing their feet" prepared a letter to be 
sent to all the clergy of the Catholic Church, 
exhorting them to the greatest diligence and 

4iB 




Ecce Panem Angelorum 



care in all that pertained to the vessels and 
linens of the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament. 
In this restoration of the Eucharistic devotion, 
the Friars have ever taken a part worthy of 
their Seraphic Father, as may be seen from 
the numerous devotions introduced by them 
into the ritual of the Church. His Holiness, 
Leo Xni, has publicly recognized this fact by 
assigning a humble Franciscan lay brother, St. 
Paschal Baylon, as the patron of all Euchar- 
istic congresses and works of every kind in 
honor of the Blessed Sacrament throughout 
the world. St. Paschal died in Spain on Whit- 
Sunday, May 17, 1592. On this altar Holy 
Mass is celebrated daily for the Community, 
who, hidden away from the gaze of the world, 
attend the Holy Sacrifice in the adjoining 
choirs, in which they assemble for the medita- 
tion on the eternal truths, and the perform- 
ance of their religious exercises. 

The first chapel on the Gospel side is that 
of St. Francis. 





liliiiiii'luuiiimijiTiitiltilill 



48 



'•! -. , 



"* ■ . v: J r •■ 

•ft,- . .'.V 




"And He gave^His commandments and a Jaw of 

life and instruction/' (Bcch xiv, 6^^ . . ,, . 




IN the beautiful valley of Umbria stands 
I Assisi, which has become famous in the 
%6rld through the man who, from his lovmg 
spirit, has" been called Sweet Saint Francis. 
Being the son of a rich merchant, he was 
eminent for his wealth, but more so by his 
constant and unflinching virtue, It was this, 
indeed, that wonlof him the title^^of the 
''flower of thd: yoii^g men of Assisi." 

A ;sudden flash of grace,! which came to him 
throtigh ^ sidcness in which he lay near to 



death, turned his thoughts from the smiling 
beauties of the world to the deeper facts of 
eternity. Overcome by a hitherto unknown 
longing for a better world, the image of the 
Saviour became more real to his eyes, and he 
loved Him with an ever-deepening and more 
intense adoration. 




And so it was on the day when he heard the 
words of Christ: "Go carry neither scrip nor 
purse nor shoes,'* and "If thou wilt be perfect, 
go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, 
and thou wilt have treasure in heaven, and 
come follow Me.'* Stripping himself of his 
rich apparel, he garbed himself in the clothes 
of a poor man and became a beggar in the 
midst of luxury. Neither scorn nor ridicule. 



I 



50 



imprisonment nor blows had power to turn 
him from the path he had chosen or tnake 
him forsake the spouse of his soul, Holy Pov- 
erty Disowned and disinherited by his father, 
h.- bore all for the sake of his Master, in 
Whose steps he endeavored to follow. 

Disciples were not slow in flocking to his 
.ide and in 1309, with the approbation of tne 
Holy See, he founded the Order of Friars 
Minor. Three years later the Second Order 
had its beginning, when a pious virgin o 
Assisi, whose name was Clara, bade farewel 
to the world and donned the coarse garb ot 

penitence. , 

There were many who would also have 
wished to join this fast-growing army of 
saints, but worldly duties and responsibdities 
would not allow them. To this end the Third 
Order sprang up. Like wildfire, almost, it 
spread throughout Christendom. Noblemen 
and kings added to their honors and regal 
robes the robe of the Poor Man of Assisi 
How beautiful was that reply of a Cardinal 
to one who was astonished that a prince of 
the Church should add the livery of St. Fran- 
cis to his purple : "The habit of St. Francis is 
itself a purple which adds to the digmty of 
kings and Cardinals. Indeed, it is a purple 
dyed in the blood of Christ and in the blood 
coming from the sacred stigmata of His holy 

51 




servant. I have added purple to purple — the 
purple of the Heavenly King to that of the 
Cardinalate. It is a double honor which I 
have not merited." 

One of the most touching incidents in the 
life of St. Francis is the tender friendship 
which he bore to St. Dominic, who wore the 
cord given to him by St. Francis until the 
end of his life. The two Orders have con- 
sidered the affection of their respective holy 
Founders as a sacred heritage, so that the 
Dominicans solemnize the feast of St. Francis 
with the Franciscans and the latter officiate on 
the feast of St. Dominic for the Friars 
Preacher. 

It was after his return from Palestine that 
the crowning glory of his life was conferred 



52 



on St Francis. At midnight on Mt. Alverna 
he chanted Matins with the brethren as usual. 
Then he went out among the trees where there 
was a large crucifix. Kneeling before it he 
be-an to meditate deeply on the passion of 
our Lord, for it was the eve of the Feast of 
the Exaltation of the Cross. He prayed his 
Saviour if it were possible that he might par- 
ticipate in some degree in His sufferings, when 
the heavens were opened before him and from 
on high there appeared a Seraph more beau- 
tiful than day, glowing with splendor. Tvvo 
of its wings covered the head and two the 
body, while two more supported it m the act 
of flying. The Seraph appeared crucified and 
the marks of the wounds were seen by St. 
Francis. The Seraph was our Saviour, and He 
talked with St. Francis. And as they spoke 
the heart of St. Francis became transformed 
and the marks of the wounds appeared on 
his chaste flesh. In his hands appeared nails 
which seemed to have grown from his flesh, 
and his breast appeared as if pierced with a 
lance, and blood from the wound stained his 

habit. ,-,.„,= 

This stigmatization is the seal, as it were, 

of God's acceptance of the work of his 

earthly life. The Church has established the 

truth of this great mystery and has formally 

instituted a feast to commemorate it. it '.s 



celebrated by the whole Church on Septem- 
ber 17, the date chosen for the dedication of 
Mount St. Sepulchre. 

A number of distinguished non-Catholics 
look up in veneration to St. Francis, and have 
written his life. Some have adopted the Rule 
of the Third Order, and several Anglican 
Communities have even accepted his Rule of 
the First and Second Orders in all its severity. 
For instance, the Anglican Communities of 
Graymoor, N. Y., whom St. Francis has led 
back to the Catholic Church. Paul Sabatier 
is renowned for his Franciscan studies, and 
the Salvation Army has proposed our Seraphic 
Saint as a model to its members in the httle 
booklet called: "Brother Francis, or Less 
than the Least." 

The two relief panels on both sides of the 
statue of St. Francis represent him, on the 
right, blessing St. Louis, King of France, and 
St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary, the patrons 
of the Third Order; and his Stigmatization, 
to the left. 

An artistic group on the epistle side of 
the Chapel represents the sorrowful meeting 
of our Lord with His blessed mother on the 
way to Calvary. 

Off the Chapel of St. Francis is the Chapel 
of Penance, where confessions are heard and 
v/here meetings of the Third Order are held. 

54 



^ 







«1E shone in the temple of God, a; the mormng 
ro star in the midst of a cloud. Gregorp J A. 

«;E was not so much a man praying; he was 
» pTayer kself. Thomas ofCelano. 

^UCH a life would be much better^sung^ in 
J© heaven. 



§ 



WEET St. Francis of Assisi, 
Would that he were here ag^m.^^^^^^^^ 



WrtE always consider anythmg that tends to 
VHl sustain and heighten the glory of St Fran- 
cis as a happy event. Pope Leo XIII. 

WT^.I^r '" '^^ ''Fretric Mo7iZ^ 
«^HF npw Saviour of Christendom, the first poet 



55 



®if (Jftapri of Ptnmtt 

*'Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven 
them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are re- 
tained." {John XX, 23.) ' y e re 

OMPASSION is die char- 
acteristic of a tender and 
loving heart, and, there- 
fore, we find near the 
altar of every Catholic 
church the confessional 
which is the tribunal, 
not of punishment, but 
. of forgiveness. 

If in the Holy Euchar- 
ist Jesus has erected a 
throne of His undying 
love towards us, the 
Sacrament of Penance 
is the throne of His loving mercy, where 
He extends His pardon to the weeping 
Peter and to the penitent Magdalene. 
Penance is the great sacrament of the com- 
passion of Jesus, of self-knowledge, of per- 
fect contrition, of reparation and persever- 
ance. We were "sold gratis"— that is, be- 
trayed and lost by sin, and we are redeemed 
"without money"— that is, as we had not the 
wherewith to pay, He let us go and forgave us 

56 




the debt— yet indeed, not until He had paid it 

Himself. 1 1 f 

Cardinal Newman, writing of the love ot 

our Lord in this Sacrament, observes thus 

beautifully: 

"The presence of Jesus in the Holy Euchar- 
ist is real and substantial, proper and per- 
sonal, in all the fullness of His Godhead and; 
manhood. His presence in the Sacrament of. 
Penance is by representation and grace. ^ In 
this then there is no comparison possible. 
In the Holy Eucharist Jesus manifests Him- 
self in His royalty, power and glory. In the 
Sacrament of Penance, in His tenderness as 
a Physician and His compassion as the Good 
Shepherd. In the former He attracts and 
transforms us chiefly by His divine attributes; 
in the latter, by His human experience, sym- 
pathy and pity. 

*ln the Holy Eucharist Jesus draws us up- 
wards to Himself; in the Sacrament of Pen- 
ance He stoops down to listen to us and to 
open to us His Sacred Heart in the midst of 
our sins and in the hour of our greatest mis- 
eries. The Holy Eucharist is Jesus reigning 
amongst the just; the Sacrament of Penance 
is Jesus seeking among sinners for those that 
are lost; the former is the Sacrament of 
Saints, the latter, of the sinful; and there- 
fore to such as we are it comes down with 



57 




The Penitent Sinner 



a singular nearness, an intimate contract with 
our needs and an articulate and human voice 
of help and solace. 

"Therefore the Sacrament of Penance is 
loved by Catholics and hated by the world. 
Like the pillar which of old guided the people 
of God, to us it is all light; to the world it 
is all darkness. There are two things of 
which the world would fain rid itself-of the 
Day of Judgment and the Sacrament of Pen- 
ance- of the former because it is searching 
and inevitable ; of the latter, because it is the 
anticipation and witness of judgment to come 
For this cause there is no evil that the wor d 
will not say of the Confessional. It would 
dethrone the Eternal Judge, if it could, there- 
fore it spurns the judge who sits in the 
tribunal of penance, because he is withm 
reach of its hand. And not only the wo "Id 
without the Church, but the world withm its 
unity, the impure, the false, the proud, the 
lukewarm, the worldly Catholic, and m a 
word, all who are impenitent, both fear and 
shrink from the shadow of the Great White 
Throne which falls on them from the Sacra- 
ment of Penance." 

Returning to the main Church and passing 
once more through the Chapel of St. Francis 
we proceed to the Altar of the Holy Ghost. 



59 




"The holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy 
Ghost/' (2 Peter, i, 21.) 

HE day on which the 
Holy Ghost descended 
upon the Apostles has 
always been regarded 
as the birthday of the 
Church. This memor- 
able event took place 
in the Cenacle on 
Mount Sion, and is 
commemorated by the Feast of Pentecost. 

The Holy Ghost inspired the Apostles with 
that spirit of faith and fortitude that made 
them to think nothing of persecution and tor- 
ments and even of death. The same Holy 
Ghost instructed them with the gift of lan- 
guages, which enabled them to talk to men of 
all nations. 

The Altar of the Holy Ghost is a monu- 
ment,^ to our faithful missionaries of Pales- 
tine, who after the example of our Lord have 
irrigated His vineyard with their heart's 
blood, the price by which they have preserved 
the Holy Shrines for the veneration of the 
faithful and kept alive the faith of Christ in 
His native land. 



60 



Our College being a missionary institution, 
it must draw from the fountain of that Spirit 
which filled the world. Our missionaries, like 
so many Apostles, must go out and carry the 
fire of the love of God into the bosoms of the 
infidels; they must speak to them in foreign 
languages; they must work for the reunion of 
our dissenting and separated brethren to the 
one fold of Christ as they have done in the 
past. During the seven centuries of mission- 
ary activity in the East, the Franciscans have 
been instrumental in reconciling with the 
Church numbers of dissenting Oriental Chris- 
tians in Armenia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, 
where the many Catholic Coptic communities 
were founded by them. And to this day the 
Franciscans have flourishing missions in 
Lesser Armenia, in the Taurus, near Antioch, 
and at the Orontes, which have become 
centers of Catholic activity. 

This reunion was the great object of the 
late Pope, Leo XIII., and here at this altar 
the future missionaries will kneel to pray 
that the Spirit of God may again unite all 
Christians in the same faith. 

From the altar of the Holy Ghost we pass 
on to the Lady Chapel. 



fit 



Wit Ms (Bm^ 



"Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with 
God." (Luke i, 30.) 



EVOTION to the 
Mother of God is as 
old as the Church, for 
we find her picture 
venerated by the early 
Christians in the Cata- 
combs. It was God 
Himself who declared 
her *'full of grace.' 




a 



As there is no Catholic Church in trie world 
which has not an altar dedicated to the 
Blessed Virgin, or in which she is not repre- 
sented at least by a statue or a picture, 
so too, there is no Franciscan church where 
Mary is not venerated under the eminent title 
of her Immaculate Conception. 

It is in this mystery that the Virgin Mother 
is represented here m our Chapel by a beauti- 
ful statue adorning the centre of the altar. 
On both sides two handsome panels depict 
her Presentation in the Temple and her 
Crowning in Heaven, while the stained-glass 
v»^indows above contain the figures of her par- 
ents SS. Joachim and Anne. 

We learn from St. Bonaventure that St. 



62 




Francis had a most 
tender devotion for 
our Blessed Lady, 
which was later re- 
warded by the beau- 
tiful vision of roses 
in the little Chapel 
of the Portiuncula, 
and by the obtain- 
ing, through his in- 
tercession, the fa- 
m o u s Indulgence, 
that bears the name 
of the Chapel. 

The Chapel of the 
Portiuncula became 
so dear to St. Francis that he exclaimed : '1 will 
never leave this place. It will be to my 
children a perpetual monument of the divine 
Goodness." For this reason he established 
there the seat of his Order, and he placed his 
whole Order under her powerful protection, 
choosing her for its special Patroness and Ad- 
vocate, for, he said: "It is through her that 
the God of infinite Majesty has become our 
Brother and that we have obtained mercy." 
Tradition says that the Saint himself estab- 
lishe'd the custom in the Franciscan Order of 
saying a special Mass every Saturday in honor 
of the Blessed Virgin, in witness of the 



63 



>■ z' . ■•^ 




peculiar patronage un3er which the Order was 
placed. / 

Faithful to the example of their Seraphic 
Father/ the children of St. Francis have ever 
been distinguished for the zeal with which, by 
pre'ach^g and writing, they have always en- 
deavored to promote her glory. It is chiefly 
owing to the labors of the Franciscan Order 
that the devotion to our Blessed Lady has 
flourished so wonderfully. Over six thousand 

64 



of its members, among whom was the cele- 
brated Duns Scotus, have ably defended the 
illustrious prerogative of Mary's Immaculate 
Conception, which was defined in 1854 by 
Pius IX as an article of Faith. 

Leaving the Altar of Our Lady we now 
approach the main entrance of the Church 
over which is the Altar of Calvary accessible 
by two stairwavs. 









t] 




65 




^t Ulttir of (S0m 

"Bearing His own cross. He went forth to that 
place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew, Gol- 
gotha, where they crucified Him." {John xix, 17-18.) 

ALVARY, or Golgotha, 
was not a mountain, as 
is generally believed, 
but a rocky knoll, 
which had the shape of 
a skull and which was 
situated not far from 
the city-wall, whence 
the Crucifixion could 
be witnessed by the populace. 

Tradition tells us that our Lord, as He 
hung on the wood of shame, looked westward, 
where His Faith was to take, the firmest hold 
on mankind. And, indeed, ever since the time of 
Christ, civilization has gone westward, until its 
beneficial rays lighted on America, where today 
the Church counts about twenty-five millions of 
devoted children in the United States alone. 
The platform upon which the Altar of Cal- 
vary is erected corresponds in height with the 
elevation of that holy place in Jerusalem from 
the level of the Basilica. The altar itself is 
a perfect fac-simile of the Greek altar in Jeru- 
salem, which covers the place where the 



66 



1L 



Saviour of the 

world gave up His 

life for mankind. 

This holy spot is in- 
dicated by a small 

disc under the altar. 

There millions of 

pilgrims have knelt 

in fervent prayer, 

and have bathed 

with their tears the 

ground that drank 

the Precious Blood 

of the Divine Re- 
deemer. To the 

right of the altar is 

pointed out the rent in the rock, caused by 

the earthquake at the time of our Lord's death, 

and two black marble discs in the rear on either 
side of the altar denote the place where stood 

the crosses of the two thieves who were cruci- 
fied with our Saviour. 

Behind the altar is an impresive group of the 
Crucifixion, consisting of the figures of the 
Crucified, with the Blessed Virgin and St. 
John on either side. It is a memorial gift of 
the Lenne family of Cologne, who wished 
to erect in the Capital of the United States 
this monument of their faith. To this group 
belongs the statue of St. Mary Magdalene, 




67 





.^^•«^Sj^i^' J^^^ 




Ancient Topography of Mt. Calvary 

Showing entrance to the Holy Sepulchre (left) and Wall of 

Jerusalem (right) 

r 

which one sees to the left. She is the pattern 
of penitent sinners that look to Christ for 
mercy and consolation. To the right a beau- 
tiful statue, the "Pieta," indicates the place 
where, after 



the descent 
from the 
Cross, the life- 
less body of 
the Saviour 
rested in the 
arms of His 
sorrowful 
Mother. It is 
a gift of Mrs. 
Helen Danne- 
miller Neu- 
hausel, of To- 
ledo, Ohio, in 




6B 



memory of her visit to the Holy Shrines with 
the First American Pilgrimage. 

Looking up we notice three beautiful stained 
glass windows. The one in the centre repre- 
sents St. Francis, the Founder of the Fran- 
ciscan Missions of the Holy Land ; to the left 
St. Louis, the Crusader-King; and to the 
right the mother of Constantine the Great, St. 
Helena, the eminent benefactress of the Holy 

Places. 

From this platform a beautiful vista is to 
be had of the Main altar and the church in 
general. The distance between Calvary and 
the Holy Sepulchre is about the same as in 
Jerusalem ; thus the Saviour could view from 
the Cross the place where He was to be 

buried. 

Before leaving this holy place, let us look up 
to the Crucified once more and say: 'Xook 
down, O Lord, upon us Thy people for whom 
our Lord Jesus Christ vouchsafed to be given 
into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer 
^ the agony and death of the Cross, Who live.st 
and reignest for ever and ever. Amen." 

We descend the stairway to the church to 
visit the miniature Chapels of the Flagella- 
tion and the Crowning with Thorns, located 
under the steps, near the entrance of the 
church. The statues contained in them are 
very life-like ; the one on the Gospel or north 

69 



side of the church, showing the pitiful image 
of the ''Ecce Homo/' and the one on the 
Epistle, or south side, of the church represent- 
ing our Lord after the cruel scourging, 
strengthened by an Angel. Pious souls, as 
they now behold the sufferings of Him Who 
has become the ransom of our sins, love to 
remain here in silent mediation, calling to 
mind how our Lord so painfully atoned for 
our pride by humiliations and His crown of 
thorns, and for our sins of lust, by His most 
cruel scourging. 

Now passing on to the Epistle side of the 
Church we enter the Chapel of St. Antony. 




70 



• 



Knttme 




"Beloved of God and men whose memory is in 
benediction/* {Bccli. xiv, 1.) 

MMEDIATEI/Y oppo- 
site the Lady Chapel is 
the Chapel dedicated to 
St. Antony. The mar- 
ble altar which adorns 
this Shrine is the gift 
of pious clients of the 
great Wonder-worker 
who, through his holy 
intercession, has obtained for them many sig- 
nal favors, spiritual and temporal. The beauti- 
ful statue represents the Saint carrying in his 
arms the Infant Jesus, and on either side of it 
two handsome relief panels show him in the 
act of healing the sick and giving bread to 

the poor. 

Every Tuesday morning at 9 o clock hloly 
Mass is celebrated here for the Benefactors 
of St. Anton/s Bread, and special devotions 
are held at which the Miraculous Responsory 
of the Saint is chanted for all those who in- 
voke his aid. 

St. Antony has been rightly called the eldest 
son of St. Francis, who inherited the spirit 
of his Seraphic Father in its sublime fullness. 

71 




Saint Antony of Padua 




St. Antony, the be- 
loved child of 
Providence, is one 
of the most won- 
derful figures in 
the history of the 
Church. 

After a hidden 
life of several years, 
he suddenly burst 
into prominence by 
his inspired elo- 
quence, his wonder- 
ful knowledge of 
Scripture, his truly 
Seraphic spirit, his 
amiability and the prodigious power he pos- 
sessed of working miracles. Nature has no 
bounds for the works which he wrought for 
the -lory of God. The great wave of devotion 
which has swept over the Church in more re- 
cent years, is ample testimony to his heaven- 

ffiven powers. ^ ^ 

There was a touch of prophecy m the words 
which the late Pope Leo spoke to an ecclesias- 
tic of Padua: "My son, it is not enough to 
love St. Antony, but you must make him 
loved, for St. Antony is the Saint, not of 
Padua only, but of the whole world." • 

About his name many devotions have sprung 

73 



up like sweet flowers from a fruitful soil, 
whose odor pervades all nations. Among these 
is the Pious Union of St. Antony, which has 
for its object the thanking of God for the 
miraculous power granted to St. Antony, the 
imploring of his powerful intercession, the 
propagation of his devotion and assistance to 
the poor. The obligations of the Union are 
to say daily, three times, "Glory be to the 
Father," etc. ; to recite daily the Miraculous 
Responsory to St. Antony, or, if this be not 
known, once the Our Father, Hail Mary and 
Glory; to give an alms to the poor when- 
ever a favor has been obtained through St. 
Antony, and to receive the Sacraments on the 
Feast of St. Antony, June 13, or within the 
Octave. There are many spiritual advantages 
connected with membership in the Union 
which, by a decree of xA^ugust 31, 1897, had its 
National Centre for the United States estab- 
lished at the Commissariat of the Holy Land, 
Mount St. Sepulchre, Washington, D. C. 

The growth of this widespread devotion to 
St. Antony has also taken the form of a new 
charity — St. Antony's Bread. Those who de- 
sire to participate in this charity write their 
requests on a piece of paper, adding a prom- 
ise that if by the expiration of a given time 
St. Antony should secure its fulfilment, a cer- 
tain alms will be given, to be used in buying 

74 




bread for the poor. 
Among these may be 
numbered the poor stu- 
dents, who, like St. An- 
tony, aspire to the 
priesthood. Requests so 
written may be sent to St. Antony's De- 
partment (Mt. St. Sepulchre, Washmgton 
D C ) They will there be deposited on ttie 
altar of St. Antony, to whom special prayers 
are said daily for the benefactors of the 
students and their intentions. . . . ,„ 

To a pious woman who sought his aid in an 
important matter, St. Antony maiiifested him- 
self and thus instructed her: "Visit my picture 
in the Church of St. Francis for nme con- 



75 



secutive Tuesdays and your request shall be 
granted." She did so, and the desired favor 
was obtained. From this circumstance has 
grown another devotion to the Saint. But the 
faith of the people has extended the nine 
Tuesdays to thirteen, in memory of his death 
on the thirteenth day of June. The Church 
has sanctioned this pious practice and enriched 
it with indulgences. 

The Miraculous Responsory of St. Antony 
is a most efficient supplication. This hymn has 
been chanted for years at the tomb of the 
Saint in Padua, and is often recited by the 
Fathers at the request of pilgrims for a par- 
ticular intention. It is well to recite it in 
every need, especially if anything be lost or 
stolen. In honor of the thirteen miracles 
contained in the Responsory there is the 
Chaplet of St. Antony, consisting of thirteen 
Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glorias, and 
the Responsory. 

St. Antony's Militia is a branch of the 
Pious Union for young men and boys. Its 
members are called upon to become apostles of 
Christ among their fellow^s, to fight the demon 
of impurity, to foster a tender devotion to 
the Blessed Virgin, and to form a league of 
prayer among themselves. The same indul- 
gences gained by members of the Pious Union 
apply to the Militia. 

76 



It has long been a practice to consecrate 
children to the Saint, and Christian mothers 
are urged to place their dear little ones under 
his protection. These children wear the Cord 
of St Antony and their mothers recite the 
prayers of the Pious Union for them, giving 
alms to the poor in their behalf. 

Many in devotion to St. Antony wear a 
scapular of gray wool which bears the image 
of the Saint with the Infant Jesus in his arms, 
and surrounded by the blessing of St. Antony. 
The solicitude of St. Antony even reaches 
down to the depths of Purgatory. He fre- 
quently offered the Holy Sacrifice of Mass 
for the dead. Hence it has become customary 
when any one desires his special intercession 
to have a holy Mass said in his honor for the 
benefit of his deceased clients in order to 
prompt his tender soul to mercy in our behalf. 
Those who desire more detailed informa- 
tion regarding the devotions to St. Antony 
may obtain it by writing to St. Antony s De- 
partment, Mount St. Sepulchre, Washington, 

On leaving the Chapel of St. Antony we 
come to the Altar of the Sacred Heart m the 
Southern Apse. 



77 



Wtt W»t of tit Swrt) !|nrt 




T 



'HE devotion to the 
Sacred Heart is as 
old as the Church. 
After the death of the 
Saviour a soldier 
pierced this Sacred 
Heart with a lance and 
blood and water flowed 
from it, wherefore the 
Church adopted the cus- 
tom of mixing a few drops of water with the 
wine prepared at Mass for consecration. 

But the first manifestation of the Sacred 
Heart took place in the Cenacle, when our 
Lord invited Thomas, the incredulous disciple, 
to place his fingers into the wound of His side. 
An altar was erected to this mystery in the 
Church of the Cenacle on Mount Sion, which 
is now, unfortunately, in the hands of the 
Turks. We commemorate on this altar of our 
Chapel the mysterious manifestation of the 
love of the Sacred Heart toward human man- 
kind, and we propose to offer special prayers 
and holy sacrifices here for the innumerable 
thousands of souls who have fallen from the 
faith of Christ. 
Our Holy Father has ordered that all the 



78 




Sacred Heart Altar, and En- 
trance to Grotto of Nazareth 



parishes of the 
world be conse- 
crated to the Sacred 
Heart. This devo- 
tion has always been 
a chief feature in 
the Seraphic Order. 
In the year 1874 the 
entire Franciscan 
Order was solemnly 
consecrated to the 
Sacred Heart of 
Jesus. The manifes- 
tation of the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus to 
the children of St. 
Francis reach back 
to the very begin- 



ning of the Order. One day, as St. Antony 
of Padua was at prayer in the solitude of 
Mount St. Paul, Mary Immaculate appeared 
to him and, showing a crowned heart on which 
was imprinted the image of Jesus Crucified, 
girt with the Cord of St. Francis, said: Look 
up, Antony, and behold the arms that^ I have 
carried in my heart ever since my Divme bon 
suffered on the Cross for the salvation of the 
world. Wkoever adores my Son under this 
representation shall be preserved from all 
misfortune, spiritual and bodily." 

79 



Another time our divine Saviour appeared 
to the Blessed John of Alverna. Our Lord 
v/as seen by him walking before his little 
hermitage, and from his Sacred Heart the 
Blessed John saw flashing rays of light that 
illuminated the entire forest. Lovingly he 
kissed the hands of Jesus, and the Sacred 
Heart emitted a penetrating odor of such 
fragrance that for many years afterwards the 
woods and the place where Our Lord had 
v/alked retained the rich perfume. In testi- 
mony of this prodigy, the pilgrim of toda} 
can see the pathway of the Sacred Heart, for 
though all the mountain round about is cov- 
ered with a rich verdure, the path is bare and 
naked, as though the flames leaping from the 
Divine Heart had burned all about it. 

And last of all the grand manifestation of 
the Sacred Heart to the Blessed Margaret 
Mary Alacoque is not without a special in- 
tervention of the Seraphic Order. All the 
world knows that our Lord gave to His 
Blessed servant, as a special protector, our 
Seraphic Father, St. Francis of Assisi, and 
history tells us that at the moment when the 
Blessed Margaret "went to reveal to the 
v/orld the pierced heart of Jesus Christ," God 
sent a disciple of the Stigmatized of Alverna, 
who should direct her. admit her at once to 
daily Communion, and remove the obstacles 

80 



which her brothers sought to place in the way 
of her entering rehgious life. 

St Antony of Padua deserves no less than 
St Francis of Assisi to be called "the favorite 
of the Sacred Heart." Three centuries after 
his death the Ven. Jane Mary of the Cross 
describes a vision she had on the feast of St. 
Antony, in which our Lord opened the wound 
in His Heart, and this Heart, all radiant with 
light, attracted and seemed in some sort to ab- 
sorb 'the soul of St. Antony as the light of the 
sun absorbs all other light. ''In the Heart of 
Jesus the soul of the Saint appeared to me 
like a precious gem of radiating brilliancy, 
which filled all the cavity. * * * Then 
Jesus took this lustrous gem in His Heart and 
presented it to His Heavenly Father, who 
caused it to be admired by the angels and 

saints." ' , tt ^ 

Next to the Chapel of the Sacred Heart 

is that dedicated to St. Joseph. 



81 



H^^^^^^Ts^^^^B^pi^H 


P^ 6^^^ ^^3^^^l 


^Bfc^r*^ ^^iw*iPvv ^^~_^^^^\ ^^^^^^^HH 


"^i ^hjL ^Sj^^^SL'^^^J 




IMU^-s^ 


«^/ //r^/ 


1, \^ 


Tuw"^' 




* Jk\ 


\ l**Ao^ 


' Asjf 1 / t 




XA 


mpl 



^ <2t W of §t Jfosriiii 

"Joseph . . . fc^iwfi' o /w-y* mon/' (Ma«. «, 19.) 

iT. JOSEPH well de- 
serves an altar in the 
Memorial Church of 
the Holy Land, for 
his life and virtues, so 
intirmately connected 
with those of Jesus 
and the Holy Family, 
can not be overlooked. 
His praise is sung in Holy Scripture, where 
he is called a "just man," a title that is equal 
to canonization. And, indeed, must he have 
been such, since he was privileged to carry in 
his arms and to caress the Infant Jesus, and 
to protect the youth of the Lord, Who was 
submissive to him, obeyed him like a dutiful 
son, and worked under his direction, being 
known to the world as the Carpenter's Son. 
As Joseph, the son of Jacob, was placed 
by Pharaoh over his household and the whole 
of Egypt, so too, the Carpenter of Nazareth 
was placed by God over His household in this 
world and made the silent witness of the hid- 
den life of Jesus. Therefore it was that Leo 
Xni selected St. Joseph as Patron of the 
Universal Church. 



82 




The death of St. Joseph very likely oc- 
curred shortly before the public life of our 
Lord. It is represented by a painting on the 
wall. Tradition asserts that he died in the 
arms of Jesus and Mary, wherefore he is in- 
voked as the patron of a happy death. 

For reasons stated above the veneration of 
St. Joseph is quite natural, but his Feast was 
only introduced into the Western Church after 




the Crusades. The pilgrims found his remm- 
iscences at Bethlehem and Nazareth, and they 
brought to Europe the holy office which was 
then recited by the religious in the ancient 
monasteries of St. Sabas and Mount Carmel. 
The Franciscans were the first to adopt it 
and to sing the praises of the foster-father of 

83 



Jesus in their churches. St. Bernardine, the 
Seraphic son of St. Francis, wrote a masterly 
and luminous treatise on the virtues and ex- 
cellencies of St. Joseph, from which, as Father 
Bouix asserts, all subsequent writers freely 
drew and inspired themselves. 

The statue of St. Joseph, which adorns the 
altar, represents the Saint carrying the Infant 
Jesus in his arms. The generous donor of 
this statue is unknown. Carefully packed and 
addressed to the Franciscan Monastery, it ar- 
rived without any further information. The 
two panels on both sides of the altar represent 
the Espousals of St. Joseph to the Blessed 
Virgin to the left, and to the right the Flight 
of the Holy Family into Eg3^pt. 

Returning from St. Joseph's Chapel to the 
southern apse, we descend to the Grotto of 
Nazareth. 




84 



* 




m^ (grotto of 11la?arrtl) 

-And He went down with them, and came to Naza- 
reth, and was subject to them." (Luke ii, 51.) 

[AZARETH, which, ac- 
cording to St. Jerome, 
means a "Flower," is 
a little town situated 
in Galilee, about sixty 
miles north of Jeru- 
salem. It is not men- 
tioned in the Old 
Testament, and seem- 
ingly, had no great reputation, for Nathanael 
asked, "Can anything of good come from 
Nazareth?" {John i, 46). 

A poetic charm surrounds the name ot 
Nazareth. The message of the Angel, the 
mystery of the Incarnation, the boyhood and 
youth of Jesus, the hidden life of the Holy 
Family, the Workshop of St. Joseph-all these 
subjects are vividly recalled when the httle 
Galilean town is in question. From there the 
Ave Maria resounded over the entire world 
and now daily re-echoes from the lips of 
millions of devout Catholics, who call Mary 

**blessed. 

With these sentiments we now approach the 
Grotto that brings to our mind the place 

85 



where the Word 
was made flesh, and 
where Jesus was 
subject to His 
parents, advancing 
in wisdom and age 
before God and 
man. 

Descending the 
stairway that leads 
to the Shrine, we 
notice on both 
sides of the wall 
two black, vertical 
bars, surmounted 
by a circle. These 
denote the limits of the foundations of 
the Holy House, which, according to tradi- 
tion, was transported by the hands of angels, 
first to Tersata in Dalmatia, in the year 1291, 
and then, a few years later, to Recanti and 
Loretto, near Ancona, in Italy, where it has 
ever since remained. 

According to tradition, the house in which 
the Holy Family lived consisted of one single 
room. It was built against a natural cave, 
which thus formed an inner apartment for 
household purposes. This arrangement is 
found to this day in some of the poorer 
houses of Nazareth. Tradition also relates 




86 



that the Blessed Virgin was engaged in 
prayer in the Grotto, when the Angel appeared 
to her in the opening of the room and greeted 
her with the words : "Hail, full of grace, the 
Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among 
women." (Luke t, 28.) . 

In the open space first entered, which is 
known as the Chapel of the Angel, there are 
two altars, the one to the right hand being 
dedicated to St. Joseph. The painting depicts 

the Saint instructing the 
Infant Jesus, and the 
other, at the left, to St. 
Anne, who is represented 
above the altar in the act 
of teaching her child, 
Mary. Two steps lead 
us into the Grotto itself, 
where stands the Altar 
of the Annunciation, 
which in Nazareth marks 
the very spot where the 
Archangel announced to 
Mary that she would be- 
come the Mother of the 
Saviour. Underneath the 
.altar table is a stone 
from Nazareth, indi- 
cating the place of the 
e" .^^^ Annunciation. The altar 

The Suspended Column 

87 





piece,; representing the mystery pi this, holy 
place, is a copy of I^uca Delia Robbia's famous 
work, ^'The Annunciation." 

At the left of this altar is reproduced a 
curious feature of the original chapel, a frag- 
ment of a granite column hanging from the 
roof. After the fire of 1638 the Mogrebins 
(Africans), in search of hidden treasure, cut 
the column in two, leaving the upper part sus- 
pended from the ceiling. A portion of an- 
other shaft has been placed under this to pre- 
vent any one passing under it. 

At the Epistle side of the Altar of- the An- 
nunciation a doorway opens into the rear part 
of the Grotto, which contains an altar dedi- 
cated to St. Joseph. i 

At Nazareth a passageway leads, frorn the 
Grotto into an interior cave called the Kitchen 
of the Blessed Virgin. Only the entrance has 
been indicated here. 

So careful has the reproduction of this Holy 
Shrine been made that even the masonry 
work, by which the defective Grotto was re- 
paired, is imitated. The rude bench on which 
the Fathers sit at High Mass has also been 
reproduced. 

From the Chapel of the xA^ngel an entrance 
facing the Altar of St. Anne leads into a pass- 
age, narrow and winding, with burial recesses 
such as are found in the Catacombs in Rome. 

88 



®l^t (Jatarombs 




-Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' 
sake] for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. {Matt. 
V, 10.) 

[HILE Nero, the blood- 
thirsty monster, was 
gloating over the fire 
of Rome, washing his 
hands in the blood of 
Christians, an u n - 
known Commonwealth 
formed itself under 
the seat of paganism, 
that was destined to overthrow the idols and 
to emerge from the bowels of the earth to 
occupy the throne of the Caesars. 

This subterranean Republic was formed 
in the Catacombs, where the early Christians 
buried their martyrs and assembled m the 
dark of the night for the celebration of the 

divine mysteries. 

We can form an idea of the extension oi 
this immense necropolis, which encircled the 
city of Rome, when we consider that their 
length has been variously estimated at 600 to 
900 miles, of which, perhaps, not one-third has 
been, up to the present, explored. The num- 

89 



ber of bodies interred in the Catacombs 
amounts to about six millions. 

These subterranean galleries were, in some 
places, three, four, and sometimes five stories 
deep, and from four to five feet wide. The 
bodies were 
laid to rest in 
the walls and 
the openings 
closed with 
slabs of mar- 
ble, stone or 
terra cotta, 
upon which 
the epitaph 
was engraved. 
At some places 
cubicula were 
set apart for 
nobler fami- 
lies or martyrs 
of distinction. 

A careful 
study of the 
Catacombs, 
their inscrip- 
tions, and their 
pictorial rep- 
resentations, 
will convince 

an unbiased Vieu- through the Catacombs 




90 



mind that the doctrines of the Catholic Church 
are the same as those of the Church in the 
Catacombs, and that the early Christians suf- 
fered and laid down their lives in testimony of 
their love and devotion to those principles of 
faith which the Catholics of this century firm- 
ly believe. Thus the Catacombs are irrefutable 
proof of the truth and divine institution of 
our Holy Mother Church, for there we find 
the mystery of the Holy Eucharist, the dis- 
pensation of the Sacraments, the veneration 
of the Mother of God and the Saints, the 
Supremacy of St. Peter and his successors. 
The six millions of Christians buried there 
lived and died for this faith and testify to 
one Baptism, one faith, one Lord and Father 
of all and to "Jesus Christ, yesterday, today 
and the same forever." (Hebr. xiii, 8.) 

In the beautiful novel, "Fabiola," by Cardi- 
nal Wiseman, we are given a realistic and 
striking picture of the life and faith of the 
early Christians together with a vivid descrip- 
tion of the Catacombs. 

Our catacombs are a faithful copy of those 
in Rome ; and these tombs and bare walls seem 
tc say as we read on some of the epitaphs: 
''Sta, Viatorr "Stand, a little while, O Wan- 
derer, and consider the price at which thou 
hast been bought." 



91 




©f IHartcr'B (Jr^pt 



"/ saw under the altar the souls of them that were 
slain for the Word of God." (Apoc. vi, 9.) 

THIS subterranean Chapel, circular in 
form, is an imitation of one of the many 
Chapels to be found in those maze-Hke 
hiding places of the early Christians. The 
relics of St. Benignus, brought from the 
Roman catacombs, finds here a resting place 
under the altar. It was transferred from 
the Cathedral at Narni to Mount St. Sepul- 
chre, where it will receive the veneration of 
the faithful, who, while descending under- 
ground, will remember amid how many per- 
secutions and hardships the first Christians 
professed their faith. 

92 



/■ 




The crypt is di- 
rectly under t h e 
main altar. 

The decorations 
are in the ancient 
style of those used 
in the Catacombs. 
In the niche the 
Saviour is repre- 
sented raising His 
hand in blessing. 
The figure to the 
right is St. Stephen, 

the first martyr of Jerusalem. The one to the 
left, St. Benignus. The picture of tlie Saviour 
is surrounded by a series of symboUc figures. 

The symbolism of the early Christian Cata- 
comb pictures had a deep religious meaning, 
and the symbols introduced in this fresco, 
copied from the originals in the catacombs of 
Rome, are examples of the more important 
ones. Beginning with the left lower corner 

they are: 

1. The Peacock or Phoenix, the emblem of 

the resurrection of the body. 

2. Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 

end. 

3. The Anchor, the symbol of hope. 

4. The Church emblematized as a tree bear- 
ing fruit, and sheltering a lamb. 

93 






5. The White Dove, symbol of innocence. 

6. The central monogram consisting of the 
interwoven Greek letters X and P, which is 
an abbreviation of the word Christ, 

7. The Dove bearing the olive branch, sym- 
bol of peace. 

8. The Banner of Christ conquering the evil I 
one, represented by the reptile, and the in- 
scription, "In this sign thou shalt conquer." 

9. The Hand, holding tablet on which ap- 
pears the inscription: 
"Thou wilt live." 

10. The Fish, sym- 
bol of Christ. 

11. The Triangle, 
symbolizing the Holy 
Trinity. 

12. The Lamb, sym- 
bol of Christ stand- 
ing on the rock, from 
which flow the four 
fountains, figuring the 
four Gospels, whence 
flow the waters of 
salvation. 

From this crypt a 

short passageway 

leads to the Chapel of 

the Suffering Souls in 

St. Benignus Purgatory. 




94 




to tbf W^ %m\i 

"It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for 
the dead, that they may be loosed from sins/' (II 
Mach. xii, 46.) 

HIS chapel, with its 
funeral decorations, is 
in a special way in- 
tended to remind us 
of the fleeting charac- 
ter of life, and of 
death, the inexorable 
enemy of mankind, 
which invariably ends 
our days. The black draperies, the funeral 
candelabra, the skulls on the capitals of the 
pilastres, and the decorative panels, where the 
thought of death alternates with that of the 
resurrection, all remind us of the words of 
Solomon: "Vanity of vanities and all is 
vanity !" 

Death is a terror to all, spares no class of 
society, no age, no sex, no calling in life, no 
spiritual nor temporal authority. Suddenly 
and without warning it comes to men without 
regard to circumstances; the individual that is 
summoned must obey the fatal call and be- 
gin his march to the grave. 



95 



\ ( 




But death, so formidable to those who have 
set their hearts on the treasures and pleasures 
of this life, becomes a warm friend and a 
welcome liberator to him who considers this 
visitor in his real quality as a messenger of ; 
God. Death leads on to resurrection. From 
this vale of tears it transports unto the realms 
of eternal bliss. 

This Chapel contains an altar on which the 
Holy Sacrifice of Mass is offered for those 
who die in the adjoining Friary and for the 
happy repose of all deceased benefactors. 
Underneath the altar table we see an appro- 
priate panel imported from France, which 
represents the Suffering Souls in the midst of 
engulfing flames, looking up to our Blessed 
Ladv, who intercedes for them. Comforting 
angels appear above them coming to their aid 

96 



and bearing the comforting fruits of the 
prayers and holy Sacrifices offered in their be- 
half by their friends upon earth, , - ^ 

Of the different paintings in the Chapel, 
the one to the left represents the lifeless body 
of Christ, "the first begotten of the dead," 
laid out under the cross. He is surrounded 
by His friends, and His dear Mother looks 
with grief and sorrow upon her Divine Child, 
mutilated by the cruelty of those whom He 
had so often befriended. 

Opposite this panel we see the vision of the 
prophet Ezechiel, to whom the Lord said as 
He showed him a plain full of bones: 

"Prophesy concerning these dry 
bones and say to them : 'Ye dry 
bones, hear ye the word of the 
Lord/ And the prophet prophe- 
•sied, and behold, a commotion, 
and the bones came together, 
each one to its joint. And he 
prophesied again, and the spirit 
came into them and they lived: 
and they stood up upon their feet 
an exceeding great army." 
{Bsech. xxxvii, 1.) 

Behind the altar to the 

left we see Death opening 

the curtain and making his 

j^ ^ sudden appearance, while 




97 



on the other side the Angel of God reveals 
to us eternal life, figuratively indicated by 
the luminous cross, hovering over the heavenly 
Jerusalem and conveying the idea that through 
death we are invited to the possession of 
everlasting happiness. 

The two panels on each side of the entrance 
to the Chapel show Tobias burying the dead 
and Christ raising Lazarus. The Ionian capi- 
tals of the pilasters are ornamented with skull 
and cross-bones, before which funeral cande- 
labra burn. All these representations brmg 
before the mind of the pious visitor the cer- 
tainty of death and the suflFerings of those 
who are detained in the ante-room of heaven 
until they have atoned as though by fire for 
the lesser faults and shortcomings that keep 
them from appearing before the Throne of 
God. It is as though we hear their pitiful > 
supplication : "Have pity on me, have pity on 
me, at least you my friends, because the hand 
of the Lord hath touched me." (Job, 19-21.) 
Just as the astronomer gazes through his 
telescope into the starry world above and dis- 
covers wonders invisible to the naked eye, so 
the saints, bent on unraveling the mysteries 
of eternity, discover through the dark valley 
of death those beautiful shores of which the 
Apostle says : "That eye hath not seen, nor 
ear hath heard, neither hath it entered into 



99 



> 



the heart of man, what things God hath pre- 
pared for them that love Him/* {Rom. v, 
12.) 

Retracing our steps from the Purgatorial 
Chapel into the Martyr's Crypt, and turning 
to the right we follow the Catacomb passage 
until we reach the Grotto of Bethlehem. 




100 




W^t (grotto of BrtW^m 

"T^f u^ ao over to Bethlehem and see this word 
that is come to pass, which the Lord hath shewed 
to us." (Luke a. 15.) 

ETHLEHEM, formerly 
Ephrata, is often men- 
tioned in Holy Scrip- 
ture and the story of 
Jacob, Ruth, and 
David are intimately 
connected with the 
little town out of 
which came forth the 
Ruler of Israel. The dawn of the redemption 
broke from there over the world, when, at the 
time of Caesar Augustus, the days were ac- 
complished and Christ the Lord was born 
in the City of David. And ever smce the 
eyes of Christendom have rested on the 
''Villa of Christ,'' as St. Jerome styles 
the native city of Jesus. St. Helena erected 
a beautiful basilica over the lowly stable, 
which, according to the custom of the 
country and to the testimony of St. Justm, 
the Martyr, of the second century, was a 
cxrotto where the shepherds sought shelter for 
Their flocks in the cold and rainy days of 
winter. 

101 



J 

' « 



gme 



This grotto, as 
it exists today in 
Bethlehem, is faith- 
fully represented 
here with all its 
irregularities. In 
the semicircular 
niche between the 
two stairways we 
behold the birth- 
place of the Sav- 
iour, indicated by 
a silver star under 
the altar, which 
bears the inscrip- 
tion : ''Hie de Vir- 
Maria Jesus Christus natus est" — 




"Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin 
Mary." Around it burn lamps, and above 
it a marble slab forms the altar table, and 
in the niche we see a relief figure of the | 
Infant Jesus surrounded by a glory of singing 
angels. 

Turning to the right there is a little recess 
in the Grotto, where the shepherds were wont 
to place the feed for the animals. In this 
humble manger the Blessed Virgin laid the 
Infant Saviour of the world on hay and straw 
to keep Him warm in the cold winter's night, 
as it is expressed by the words of Holy Writ: 



102 




1 



''And she brought 
forth her first- 
born and wrapped 
Him in swad- 
dling clothes, and 
laid Him in a 
manger; because 
there was no 
place in the inn." 

(Luke a, 7.) 
Here it was that 

the shepherds 
hastened to pay 
their homage to 
to the Divine 
Child. We do so 

likewise by venerating here a beautiful figure 
of the Infant Jesus, which was blessed m 
the original place of the manger at Bethle- 
hem Here, too, it was that the wise men of 
the East, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, 
bowed low in adoration. The place where 
they knelt is marked by an altar, known as 
the Altar of the Wise Men, above which is 
to be seen a painting, "The Adoration of the 
Magi," where, in Bethlehem, daily Mass is 
offered by the Franciscan Fathers for the ben- 
efactors of the Holy Land. The two stair- 
ways leading from the crypt to the church 
above will remind all those who have been 



103 



in Bethlehem of the Latin and Greek stair- 
ways in the Church of the Nativity, which are 
here reproduced. - >-vtv 

The Grotto is covered with tapestry, cur- 
tained all round. To the left, as in Beth- 
lehem, we notice a benchj near which the 
Turkish sentinel stands guard. The rear wall 
of the Grotto is adorned with a painting of 
the Angels appearing to the shepherds and 
announcing to them the birth of Christ. 

On Christmas night the same ceremonies as 
are performed in Bethlehem are carried out 
in this Grotto, with all their pomp and 
splendor. After midnight Mass the figure of 
the Infant Jesus is carried hither in solemn 
procession, and the Gospel of the Holy Night 
is sung by the deacon, who reverently places 
the sacred Image on the star-marked spot of 
the Nativity. At the words : ''and laid Him 
in a manger," he transfers it to the Manger. 
This ceremony is followed by Holy Mass, 
and the little Grotto remains crowded with 
pious worshippers until early morning. 

So much as regards the Church. It re- 
mains to mention the other places of interest 
on Mount St. Sepulchre. 



104 



i.;-.v.-r-;^.ja^-'_- 




'■Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house O Lord;. 
,„ey shall Praise Thee for ever and ever. (Ps. 
Ixxxiii, 5.) 

IHE Monastery of 
Mount St. Sepulchre 
is a missionary insti- 
tution, which has for 
its object the educa- 
tion of such generous 
^mM- as feel them- 
Ulygs prompted t o 
serve the Holy Land 
in the Order' of St. Francis.; This part^of the 
building is separated, from -the Church J^yj 
larce corridor into which .YJftors are admmed. 
The Monastery's a large rectangle, with a 
courtyard in the centre, which >s la-d out as a 
garden with walks, flower beds and shrubbery. 
The centre is occupied by a cistern of grea. 
dimensions, in which the rain water from the 
roof is collected and stored up agamst summe. 
droughts. The old oaken bucket remmds. J 
of early times, and serves when it falls back 
into the cistern with a splash to keep the water 
wholesome and fresh. 

The inner courtyard is surrounded on the 
first floor by the traditional cloister, which 

105 



r< 



not only facilitates communication between the 
various parts of the building, but also affords 
the Friars a place for the required exercise 
and recreation during inclement weather. 
This ambulatory presents a charmmg picture 
and is, perhaps, the most characteristic part 
of the whole building. The restrictions of the 
Seraphic Rule and the lack of funds have pre- 
vented us from decorating it in that artistic 
style found in the old abbeys, where beautiful 
carved columns and intricate screen work pro- 
duced a pleasing aspect. The spirit of St. 
Francis demands strict simplicity, and the en- 
deavor has been to follow this to the letter. 
The cloister has a counterpart m the base- 
ment of the building, with the difference only 
that it is enclosed and lighted by windows. 
In the basement are the various workshops, 
storerooms, the kitchen, pantry, and cellar. 
Before leaving Mount St. Sepulchre, a visit 
should be paid to the Grotto of Lourdes. 



107 



I 

1 




Wif (grotto of %mtiitfi 

"Thou art all fair, and there is no spot in thee." 
{Cant, iv, 7.) 

HE little town of 
Lourdes in the south 
of France has become 
of world-wide fame. 
Pilgrims flock there 
by the thousands every 
year from all parts of 
the globe to venerate 
the Grotto, in which 
the Blessed Virgin, under the title of the 
Immaculate Conception, appeared, more than 
half a century ago to a poor, fourteen-year- 
old girl named Bernadette Soubiroux. The 
first of the eighteen apparitions occurred on 
the 11th of February, 1858. This mysterious 
vision, seen in the hollow of the Rock of Mas- 
sabielle, was that of a young and fair Lady, 
described as "lovelier than I have ever seen," 
by the favored Bernadette. It was only after 
four years, when the apparitions had been 
fully established by a continuous series of 
miracles, that its authenticity was admitted by 
the Church. 

Since then no other Shrine has attracted 
such throngs. The railway company estimates 



108 



that over one million pilgrims and travellers 
stop at Lourdes per annum. Over 4,000 won- 
derful cures have been obtained at the Shrme 
within the first fifty years of the pilgrimages. 
The certificates of these maladies and cures 
can be inspected by all physicians at the 
Bureau des Contestations. The Annales des 
Sciences Physiques, a sceptical review, m the 
course of a long article apropos of this faith- 
ful study, says : ^'On reading it, unprejudiced 
minds cannot but be convinced that the facts 
stated are authentic." As a matter of fact, 
no natural cause, known or unknown, is suf- 
ficient to account for the marvellous cures 
witnessed at the foot of the celebrated rock 
where the Virgin Immaculate deigned to 
appear. They can only be from the interven- j 

tion of God. {Catholic Encyclopedia.) 

The fascination of the miraculous happen- 
ings at Lourdes has spread over the globe and 
has prompted the faithful to transplant into 
their own climes a representative Grotto of 
the Pyrenees. Even the late Pontiff, Leo XIII 
of blessed memory, had one erected in the 
Vatican gardens, where, kneeling at the feet of 
the Immaculate Virgin, he could pour out his 
heart to her and obtain strength and consola- 
tion. 

Long before the publication of the dogma 
of the Immaculate Conception by Pope Pms 

109 







o 

g 



IX in 1854, it had been the noted privilege of 
the Franciscan Order to defend that glorious 
title of the Mother of God. The brilliant 
efforts of the Friar Duns Scotus, the famous 
Doctor of the Franciscan School of Theology, 
were, beyond doubt, largely instrumental in 
bringing this beautiful prerogative of Mary 
to a successful issue. The Franciscan Order 
proudly claims the Virgin Queen of Heaven, 
under this pre-eminent title of the Immaculate 
Conception, as its heavenly Protector; and 
our beloved Republic boasts the same favor. 
Not without reason, then, have we desired 
to see on the Monastery grounds a fac-simile 
reproduction of the Grotto of Lourdes, 
wherein the Bl. Virgin herself proclaimed the 
corroboration of the teaching of the Fran- 
ciscan Order and declared herself the Immac- 
ulate Conception. Thanks to the generosity 
of pious benefactors and many friends, this 
desire has been realized and we have succeeded 
in placing before the eyes of our pilgrims an 
exact reproduction of the celebrated Grotto. 
May it inspire all those who visit it with a 
greater love for the Virgin Mother of God, 
and may it become a source of untold blessings 
to^all who implore there the powerful inter- 
cession of Our Lady of the Immaculate 
m Conception. 
■ Our Grotto of Lourdes is situated in a 



111 



valle}^, which lies to the south of the Monas- 
tery and is accessible therefrom by a stairway 
leading down to the Shrine. Here the pious 
pilgrim can address his prayers to the Immac- 
ulate Queen of Heaven, to whom Mother 
Church applies these beautiful words of Holy 
Scripture: "Thou art all fair, O my love, 
and there is no spot in Thee." (Cant, iv, 7.) 

The new Grotto was solemnly dedicated 
amid a great concourse of people in the after- 
noon of the 15th of August, 1913, the feast 
of the Assumption of our Blessed Lady. His 
Lordship, the Right Rev. Charles W. Currier, 
Bishop of Matanzas, Cuba, rejoicing that he 
was privileged to exercise his first pontifical 
function in honor of Mary Immaculate, offici- 
ated, blessing the Grotto, Altar and Statue. 
An eloquent sermon was preached by Fr. God- 
frey Hunt, O. F. M., and the inaugural cere- 
monies were closed with the chanting of 
Litanies and hymns in honor of the Blessed 
Virgin. - 

The following day a pilgrimage of orphans, 
led by the Sisters of Charity, came to venerate 
the Mother of God at her new Shrine, and not 
many days had passed when the Blessed Vir- 
gin granted her first signal favor at the Grotto 
by obtaining the grace of an extraordinary 
conversion. 



112 




sight of flowers, 
their perfume. As 



Van ye fowls of the fl.V, bless the Lord." (Dan. 
Hi, 80.) 

FTER God men; after 
men nature. St. Fran- 
cis linked these terms 
together in his mind 
and in his affection, as 
they are linked in 
reality and in life. 

As a child his face 
used to light up at the 
he delighted to inhale 
a young man, he was 
most sensitive to the beauty of this world. 
A fine view, luxuriant vegetation, the 
play of light and shade, the increasing nnove- 
Lnt and flow of water, all such thmgs 
he appreciated and loved. After his conver- 
sion and in later years he did not change m 
this respect. Nature was to him always a 
friend: she gave him wings for his piety. 

To honor and commemorate the love of our 
Holy Father for nature, a little oratory has 
been erected which recalls the wayside chapel 
of the fair Umbrian plain. 

It stands in a lonely grove apart from the 
Monastery and is surrounded by pme and 

113 

til 



cedar trees where the birds love to nestle 
and where the nightingale sings its evening 
song. The seclusion of this retreat reminds 
us of Mount Alverna, where St. Francis de- 
lighted to dwell in his beloved solitude. The 
little chapel is intended for the use of the 
Friars only and has been erected with the aid 
of the young men's Tertiary Fraternity of 
New York. It contains a beautiful statue of 
St. Francis, representing him rapt in medita- 
tion and surrounded by his "little brothers and 
sisters, the birds," as he loved to call them. 

We refer here to one of the 
beautiful incidents which, though 
full of simplicity, gave to his life 
the charm of poetr} : St. Francis 
was staying on Mount Alverna. 
He had passed througli the suf- 
ferings and the ecstasy 
of the Stigmata. He 
was spiritually in a 
supernatural state, 
but his mind was 
marvellously open to 
all things, and he was 
highly sensible to the 
beauty of the world. 
In the evening the 
songster of the woods 
began one of its finest 
melodies on a tree 



; 




114 




a 



« 
•J* 

Q 



hard by. Fraiigi^: listened, and was filled 
with emotion;^'^!^other Leo was beside 
him. "Answer: |;it,|j;^id Francis-^ to ^" hi^m. 
Brother Leo ^j^^fed' himself, on account 
of his bad^bi^e:' Francis took the part 
and answered^ the nightingale. The S^int 

and the bird 
sang alter- 
nately. Parti 
-■of the night 
was spent in 
this contest. 
He made the 
bird come on * 
his hand, 
caressed it 
genth^ con- 
gratulated 
it on hav- 
ing gained 
the victory, 
and said to 
Brother Leo : 
"Let us give 
our brother, 
the nightin- 
gale, some- 
thing to eat ; 
he deserves it 
more than T 
do." 




I 



4 



i 



4 

n 



The bird ate some crumbs from the hand of 
the Seraphx Father, and flew away with his 

" St "Bonaventure says, that going back to the 
Prs ■ ori<xin of things, St. Francis considered 
ai crel mres as having come from the paternal 
bosom of God. For this reason he mvited 

hem all to glorify their Maker, and composed 
that beautiful hymn of -ation which h 
moderns sometimes cal the ^a" f ot 

Sun," although he himself caUed lUe Praises 

"^ '\^'TZ.t^ of haT Umbr'ian t'erres- 
Ozanam, the Ifeat^ ^t ^^^ 

tial paradise, where the sky is so 
the earth so laden with Aowers ! 

On certain days, such as Corpus Christi, the 
Feast of St Francis, and All Souls, visitors are 
!Sed t'o take part in the P-ess on to t,e 
Alverna chapel, as well as to the Cemetery. 



117 



By St. Francis. 

(Translated from the Original.) 

Most high, omnipotent, good Lord, 

Thine be. the praise, the glory, the honor and 

all benediction; 
To Thee alone. Most High, do they belong; 
And no man is worthy to mention Thee. 

Praised be Thou, my Lord, with all Thy 

creatures. 
Especially the worshipful Brother Sun, 
Who gives the day, and through it illumines 

us; 

And he is beautiful and radiant with great 
splendor, 

Of Thee, Most High, he bears significance. 

Praised be Thou, my Lord, for Sister Moon 

and for the Stars; 
In heavt i hast Thou formed them clear, and 

precious and lovely. 

« 
Praised be Thou, my Lord, for Brother Wind 
And for the air and for cloudy and fair and 

every weather, 

118 





By the which Thou givest sustenance to Thy 

PraST Thou, my Lord, for Sister Waten 
The which is very useful and humble and 
precious and pure. 

Praised be Thou, my Lord, for brother Fire. 
Rv the which Thou lightest the night 
Md fairt he and gay and mighty and strong. 

Praised be Thou, my Lord, for our Sister. 

Mother Earth, 
The which sustains and governs us 
Ind produces divers fruits with colored flow- 

ers and herbs. 

Praised be Thou, my Lord, for those who 

pardon for Thy love 
And endure infirmity and tribulation 
Blessed those who shall in peace endure 
For by Thee, Most High, they shall be 

crowned. 

Praised be Thou, my Lord, for our Sister, the 

Bodily Death, 
From whom no living man can escape. 
Woe to those who die in mortal sin; 
Blessed those who are found in Thy most 

For'iheMSnd death shall do them no harm. 

119 



r^^ia::; 



die in the Lord." {Apoc, 




"Blessed are the dead who 
xiv, 13.) 



OR the 'Christian, death 
is only l transition to a 
better life. It was for 
this reason that the 
early Christians called 
their burial-places 
sleeping rooms. They 
walked in the Cata- 
combs and prayed 
among their dead, who had preceded them 
with the sign of faith and were sleeping the 
sleep of peace. 

Following this custom, the monks of old 
buried their brethren in the churches and 
cloisters, where they could hold spiritual dis- 
course with them; or they laid them away in 
subterranean vaults under the main altar on 
which the Holy Sacrifice of Mass was offered 
for their benefit. Thus by daily meditation, 
death lost its horror, and was hailed as the 
welcome friend that invited them to a happier 
existence. 

Since, however, modern laws, in a vain 
endeavor to rid the living of the tremendous 
thought of death, have removed the deceased 



12C 



las far as possible from the habitations of men, 
the cemeteries have been transferred outside 
the cities and turned into parks, where the 
thoughtless crowds promiscuously come and 
go, mindless of the dreadful thought of 
eternity, and without a prayer. 

Our faith teaches us that "it is a holy and 
wholesome thought to pray for the dead that 
they may be loosed from their sins." (// Mach. 
xii 46 ) To this end we have clung to the 
old christian idea of keeping our cherished^ 
dead among us, and in the Monastery grounds,- 
we have laid out a resting plac«, to whioh our 
brothers in life may go to pray for the repose 
of their departed confreres. And as they shall 
have done, so it will be a consoling thought 
to them to know that, in after years, when 
death will have laid them in that same grave- 
yard, others will continue to come tg .offer a 
silent prayer for the eternal welf^m.of their ^ 
immortal souls. ''"'■ .' 

The cemetery, dominated by- a large white 
cross'lies on the slope of the hill, facing the 
east It is an attractive, grassy plot, dotted 
with cedars, willows, shrubs and white-rose- 
bushes and here our departed brethren await 
the great summons of the final Resurrection 

Day. . > 

Since the establishment of the cemetery ,t.en 

years ago, five of our members have been in- 
terred there: Brothers Christopher, Gabriel 
Marianus, Marcellinus and Isidore. Many of 

121 




Bro. Marianus 



the visitors to the 
Monastery will recall 
the venerable figure of 
Brother Marianus. For 
ten years he fulfilled 
the delicate office of 
porter. It was in this 
capacity that the thou- 
sands who were re- 
ceived by him, found 
him always cheerful and 
obliging, patient and 
edifying in his piety and devotion. Innumer- 
able were the prayers the good old Brother 
told during the day, and, like St. Paschal, he 
would spend every spare moment before the 
Blessed Sacrament. He died in his 86th year, 
full of merits and goods works. 

The l^^^tee to be carried to our little ceme- 
tery was Brother Isidore. He was one of the 
pioneers of Mount St. 
Sepulchre. Having been 
sent here in the beginning, 
he set about the by no 
means easy task of bring- 
ing beauty and order out 
of the chaotic mass of 
wild and overgrown 
woodland. A skilful gar- 
dener, he succeeded in turn- sro. Isidore 




122 



ing the wilderness into a tnbst ^attracnve 
demesne. Vineyards, orchards and- pretty 
garden landscapes soon adorned the once 
forlorn Mount, while the bottomland was made 
to yield every kind of vegetable produce. 
The good Brother, lamented by friends here 
and abroad, passed away on October 33, 1912, 
in his 75th year, and was laid to rest m the 
peaceful cemetery his own hands had helped 
to shape. May the souls of our dear 
Brothers rest in peace ! 




Requiescat in pace 



123 



I 

i 







^p (DrtiFr of ITriars IHinor and Jls 
IHissioos in t^p (J^nrr^ 

"Go jre iji/o th€ whole world, ar.z f'£2ch ir.e Gospel 
to every creature/' {Mark jrsn, 15.) 

AFTER the death of S:. Francis, his chil- 
dren journeyed to all parts of the world 
adhering faithfully to his spirit which had 
inspired them arc continuing their heaven- 
sent mission wilq unremitting zeaL This new 
soldiery which God had given to the Church 
was destined to revive the spirit of Jesus 
Christ among the Christian nations; and for- 
the accomplishment of this divine mission our 
Lord Himself dictated to St Francis the 



124 







Seraphic Rule, which is 
the quintessence of the 
Holy Gospel and the mode 
of life of the Apostles. 

The Order of St. Francis 
has carried on at all 
times the work of preach- 
ing in Catholic lands, and 
the work of missions among the heathen. 
Volumes might be written on the labors, 
sufferings and triumphs of the Franciscan 
missionaries; no Order in the Church has 
surpassed them in zeal for the propagPllon 
of the Gospel. St. Francis himself visited the 
Holy Land, presented himself before the 
Sultan of Egypt (1220) and endeavored to 
convert him, and sent five Friars to Morocco, 
who were all martyred. Franciscans preached 
in Tartary about the middle of the thirteenth 
century, and in China and Armenia before the 
end of it. By a bull of Clement VI (1340) the 
guardianship of the Holy Places at Jerusalem 
was committed to the Order, and they still 
retain it. Franciscans were established in 



125 




Bosnia in 1340, in Bulgaria about 1366, and 
in Georgia (Caucasia), 1370. We find them 
taking a large share in the conversion of the 
natives of the Canary Islands in and after 
1423 ; they entered Abyssinia in 1480, and about 
1490 established a mission on the Congo which 
bore great fruit. The Order was instrumental 
in the discovery of America. Fr. Juan Perez 
de Marchena, guardian of a convent near 
Seville, himself a learned cosmographer, 
entered warmly into the designs of Columbus, 
and used his influence with Queen Isabella, 
whose confessor he had been, to persuade her 
to fit out the memorable expedition of 1492. 
In the following year Fr. Juan Perez himself 
went to America and opened the first Chris- 
tian Church in the New World, at a small 
settlement in the island of Hayti. Not to speak 
of the Franciscan missions in India, Brazil and 



126 




Peru — it was the Friars Minor who were wel- 
comed to Mexico by Cortez in 1523, and who, 
under their holy leader, Martin de Valenza, 
planted Christianity firmly in that empire, 
whence they went forth to preach the gospel 
in New Mexico (1580), in Arizona, in Texas 
(1600), and, lastly, in California (1769). The 
numerous Franciscan Missions in the South- 
west were appropriately named by contem- 
porary writers : "The Kingdom of St. Francis." 
There is no savage nation which the Fran- 
ciscan missionaries have not sought to evan- 
gelize; no land so distant or shore so un- 
known that they have not watered it with the 
sweat of their brows and often with their very 
life's blood. And even in this, our day, their 
apostolic zeal has not abated, for their missions 
continue in all parts of the globe. The 
disciples of St. Francis are found in Asia, 
under the burning sun of Africa, in the vast 
regions of North and South America, and 
among the savage tribes of the South Sea 
Islands. 



127 




■'^~-. 



Wif IFrtmciBrfut Kiiostolatf 

The Order of St. Francis has never sepa- 
rated learning from the apostolate. Preaching 
was, it is true, the last principle of the Order 
which suggested itself to St. Francis, but he 
gave to their preaching a solid foundation in 
sacred knowledge. The Friar Minor should 
draw the inspiration of his eloquence from the 
pure sources of theolog}^ It was the Order 
of Friars Minor that, having consoled and 
rejoiced the Church by the indefatigable zeal 
of its apostles, illumined it by the wisdom of 
its doctors. And it is not one of the least of 
the glories of the Order that its most illus- 
trious men have regarded their lives and their 
works as belonging to Mary Immaculate, their 
august patron. They made use of their learn- 
ing and their brilliancy to defend that which 
was called the "Franciscan opinion" — that is. 



i 



I 

I 



128 



4 




On the Battlefield 



the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary. 

But the Order of St. Francis does not es- 
teem learning unless it is coupled with the 
practice of the highest Seraphic virtues. 
There are at present over 381 Saints, Blessed 
and Venerable, who belonged to the three 
Orders of St. Francis. In addition to these 
servants of God who have been raised to the 
honors of the altar, there are also several 
thousand holy men and women to whom the 
title of Blessed is given in the martyrology of 
the Seraphic Order, as well as a large num- 
ber who enjoy a wide public veneration, but 
whose cultus has not yet been formally ap- 
proved by the Church. 

During the past two centuries the children 
of St. Francis have not ceased to add to the 

129 



If! 




hosts of heaven, after they had enriched the 
earth by the sweet perfume of their virtue. 
According to statistics published in 1909 the 
Causes of Beatification of no less than 151 
members of the Franciscan Order were then 
pending. Of these holy Servants of God, 
thirty-seven lived during the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Pre-eminent among these latter are Fr. 
Emmanuel Ruiz, O. F. M., and his compan- 
ions massacred at Damascus in 1860; Fr. 
Magin Catala, O. F. M., who died in Cali- 
fornia in 1830; Ven. Ludovico da Casoria, 
O. F. M., who died at Naples in 1885; Fr. 
Teter Lopez, O. F. M., who died in Corsica 
'in 1898; Fr. Valentine Paquay, O. F. M., who 
fdied in Belgium in 1905. Others who died in 
ithe fame of sanctity are Fr. Arsenius, of 
Servieres, O. F. M., Provincial of France, who 
eicpired in Paris on Easter Sunday, 1898 ; 
Sister Mary Celina, a Poor Clare novice, who 
died at Bordeaux, France, in her nineteenth 
j^ear; Sister Mary Clare Vaughan, also a 

130 



novice in the Order, and a sister of the late 
Cardinal Vaughan. The biography of this 
saintly girl by Lady Lovat is truly Franciscan ; 
it reads like another chapter in the ''Little 
Flowers of St. Francis." 

We would fain add to these few too brief 
examples of sanctity gathered at random from 
the Seraphic garden a long list of other Fran^ 
ciscans of the three Orders who have attained 
public eminence for sanctity in our own time, 
but the lack of space forbids. Enough has 
been said, however, to demonstrate that 
heroic sanctity is not impossible in the excite- 
ment of our own times. Nor has it been in 
the peaceful atmosphere of the cloister alone 
that the children of St. Francis have tri- 
umphed over the world. In infidel countries 
they have been repeating the victories of their 
glorious predecessors, the Seraphic Martyrs of 
Morocco, Japan, and Gorcum. We have al- 
ready seen that the cause of beatification of 
the Ven. Emmanuel Ruiz, O. F. M., and his 
seven companions, all Franciscans, martyred 
at Damascus in Syria in 1860, has already been 
introduced. Even more recently, Bro. Libera- 
tus, O. F. M., sealed his faith with his blood 
in 'the Grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem 
in 1893; Fr. Salvator, O. F. M., was cruelly 
put to death for his faith by the Mussulmans 
in Armenia in November. 1895, and Fr. 



131 




I''lll'lilll(ll'llll' 

T^:^ 



Victorin O. F. M. was martyred in China 
in December, 1898, in a manner calculated 
to recall the worst torments inflicted on 
the Christians during the fiercest of the 
early persecutions; four Chinese Bishops of 
the Order, besides several Friars and Nuns, 
were cruelly put to death during the Boxer 
uprising in 1900; in Denver, Colorado, Fr. 
Leo Heinrichs, O. F. M., of the New York 
Province, was murdered in church by an an- 
archist, while giving Holy Communion; Fr. 
Michael Fabre, O. F. M., of the Province of 
France, obtained in 1912 the crown of martyr- 
dom at the hands of the infidels in Morocco, 
where he was acting chaplain to the French 
troops. During the Balkan War, 1913, Fr. 
Angelus Davie, O. F. M., courageously laid 
down his life for Christ in Albania, after hav- 
ing in vain been called upon by the Schismatics 
to renounce his faith. In June, 1913, a Spanish 
Franciscan, Fr. Francis Bernal, O. F. M., was 
killed for the faith in China. 



133 



Thus the Order of St. Francis never ceases 
JX. Saints and Martyrs to the Faith down 
to our very days. Surely it is destined, as 
Pope Leo XIII, of happy memory, repeated.y 
Sed, to renew the lights of faith and love 
in these dark and distracted days. Thank 
Sod! Se Seraphic Order, which has mtje 
nast given to the world so many children who 
ar Tw crowned with glory, still continues 
to produce Saints, and will do so until the 

end of time. 




133 



I 




St. Francis Blessing 

Dante, Columbus, and Giotto, 

Members of the Third Order 



I 



■'Blessed are the Poor in spirit for theirs is the 
Kingdom of Heaven/' (Math. v. 3.) 



k 



IT was after k had founded his first two 
1 Orders that St. Francis, in 1331, estao- 
lished the Third Order. There were many :n 
I those days who were aroused by the sp>r^ o 
I regeneration which the preaching of he Sa n 
. and his followers had aroused Filled wit. 
• sorrow and remorse for their sms and moved 
by a deep desire to spend the remainder cf 
heir lives in penitential exercises and works 
of charity they would fain have withdraw, 
from the world. But for many the cloister 
was not possible. Ties of many kinds bound 
Them to a life in the. world-ties which they 
could not in conscience disregard for some 
were married and others had aged or mfirm 
parents or relatives dependent upon them 

Seeing their great devotion and unwilling 
that they should be deprived of the sp.ritu. 
advantages accruing to those who embraced 
the religious life, St. Francis found for these 
a middle course, a path to salvation tha 
should lie midway between the world and the 
cloister, partaking of the nature of eack In 
fact those who take upon themselves the ob 
Sionrand habit of the Third Order, men 



135 




1 



and women, are in the 
true sense of the word 
religious who pass 
unnoticed in the gar- 
ments of everyday 
life and whose cloist- 
ers are bounded only 
by the limits of the 
world itself. 

The chief obligation 
imposed by the Rule 
on members of the 
Third Order is to 
live a life which shall 
be in all ways truly 
Christian. It is not 
severe, its require- 
ments do not bind 
under pain of sin, and 
is therefore open to 
all. Those in the 



I 



i 



f 



Order are expected to be more sedate, spend 
Ire time in prayer, hear Mass more fre- 
quently, fast more strictly, --\'l^^ ^^ 
pleasures of this world more persistently. The 
Allowing are the principal obhgations : 

Every Day.-Assist at Holy Mass if pos- 
sible, recite twelve Paters and Aves, say grace 
before and after meals and examine your 
conscience. Every Monf/^.-Receive the Sac- 
raments and assist at the meetings. Always 
be temperate in eating and drinking, avoid 
display in dress and ornaments, frivolous the- 
atrical performances, dances and all reve ry, 
bad books and newspapers, unnecessary oath, 
immodest words and vulgar stones. Make 
your will in due time, pray for the dead, and 
wear the cord and scapular. Fast on Oc- 
tober 3d and December 7th. 

It will thus be seen that it is an approved 
Order, infinitely more than a common con- 
fraternity, and has been recommended and 
eulogized by more_ than thirty Popes and two 
Ecumenical Councils. 



137 



"And the Gentiles . . . glorified the word of 
the Lord/' (Acts xiii, 48.) 

AA ANY of the greatest and most popular 
devotions in the Church owe their ori- 
gin to the Sons of St. Francis. The origin 
of the beautiful de- 
votion of the crib 
is thus described: 

"Late in the 
Autumn of the 
year 1223, St. 
Francis, being in 
Rome, sought and gJ^^' 




Origin of the Christmas Crib 
138 



obtained from the Pontiff Hononus III per- 
mission to honor the Feast of the Nativity m a 
novel way. He then journeyed to Greccio a 
little spot in the Appenines, there to celebrate 
his ideal Christmas. On the mountain side near 
Greccio a large stable was roughly bm It; 
carved wooden images of the Divine Child 
the Virgin Mother, and St. Joseph were placed 
in if the floor was covered with straw, and 
an altar was erected. Toward midnight some 
shepherds arrived, leading an ox and an ass, 
which they tied up under this rude shelter 
The place was thronged with the Fnars from 
the neighboring convent, and the country peo- 
ple from the hamlets around, who had brough. 
torches, which illuminated the mountain side ; 
they brought with them also musical instru- 
ments, and the wild, sweet Christmas carols 
resounded through the dark forests, and 
awakened the echoes of the rocks. 

The Forty Hours' Devotion, concerning 
which Cardinal Wiseman says, "In no other 
time or place is the sublimity of our religion 
so touchingly felt," is another legacy from the 
Franciscans. It was instituted in 1537 by the 
Ven Joseph a Fermo, a Friar of Milan, and 
the rules for its observance were drawn up 
some years later by St. Charies Borromeo, 
himself a Franciscan of the Third Order. 



139 



So again the Franciscans 
were the first to introduce 
into their churches through- 
out Europe the devotion 
known as the Way of the 
Cross, or the fourteen Sta- 
tions. Clement III ex- 
tended this devotion to the 
universal Church ; reserv- 
ing to the Order of St. 
Francis, or whomsoever the 
General of it should dele- 
gate, the right to bless and 
erect the Stations. 

The origin of the An- 
gelus, which has been aptly 
called the very poetry of 
prayer, is ascribed to St. 
Bonaventure, who, in 1362, 
being then General of the 
Franciscans, commanded the 
Friars at the general chap- 
ter of his Order at Pisa to 
recite, at the sound of the 
evening bell, three Aves in 
honor of the mystery of the 
Incarnation. The same was 
ordered for morning and 
noon. 

The great Franciscan mis- 
sionary of Italy, St. Ber- 




140 



n^irdine of Siena, and his contemporaries, St. 
Ltsof the Marches, and St. John Cap.^ran^^ 
unread everywhere the devotion to the Holy 
Ce of TIesus, under whose banner ^he 
Catholic youths and men of the United btates 
haTbanded together to fight the demon of 
hlasDhemy and intemperance. 
'%ut the crowning grace of devotions which 
v^e owe to the Order of St. Francis is the di- 
vindy given Indulgence of the Portiuncula 
Il^dy mentioned, concerning which the g^ 
Jesuit theologian, Bourdaloue, says, i assert 
hTof all indulgences, that of the Portiuncuja 
is the most authentic and valid in the Church 
because it is an indulgence directly granted by 
5e SsChrist Himself. All other indulgences 
Le been i-ted by Sovereign Ponti^^^.s 
one alone was given directly oy vjou^ 
to the lovely and lowly St. Francis. 

our Lady, is attributed to the Franciscan poet 
Jacopone da Todi. 



141 



^ 



%nmmt of tht <Driin of St Jfmm 
in tHr (JtdQrrli dttd oit $orifte 

'7 salute thee, O wisdom, who art the queen. May 
God Preserve thee with thy sister, pure and holy 
simplicity /'—Words of St. Francis. 



'^y^' 



^ 



I NDEED, few Catholics 
* know how much they 

owe to St. Francis and the 

Franciscans. 

How many talk about the 
dark ages and the ignorant 
monks, who in their simplicity 
have not the faintest idea of 
history and have never heard 
of Roger Bacon. This giant of 
science was born at Ilchester in 
England in the year 1214 and 
lived and died a humble son of 
St. Francis. He was the wonder 
of his age and was called, on account of his 



142 



vast knowledge, "the Admirable Doctor. 
Seven hundred years ago he foretold all the 
great inventions of our age, and foresaw the 
extensive use of steam and electricity, and spoke 
in surprising manner of railroads, automobiles 
and flying machines. In his works the scien- 
tists of today will find wonderful indications 
on astronomy, optics, light, mechanics, and ex- 
perimental sciences; therefore the University 
of Oxford has decided to erect a monument 
in his honor on the occasion of the seventh 
centenary of his birth. 

How few outside the small circle of emment 
scientists are aware that it was a son of St. 
Francis, Bishop Mullock, O.F.M., of New- 
foundland, who first conceived the idea of 
laying the ocean cable, and showed it to be 

practicable? 

In these boastful days of military power and 
skill, how few know that it was a peacefu 
Friar Berthold Schwarz, who in his humble cell 
invented gunpowder? In the social problem two 
Franciscan Friars, Barnabas of Term (14,4) 
and the Blessed Bernardine of Feltre (* 1494), 
were chiefly instrumental in founding the cele- 
brated monti di pieta, or charitable loan insri- 
tutions, designed to protect the poor against 
the usury of the money-lenders. When we 
hear of the great Universities of Oxford and 
Cambridge, and the Sorbonne of P^ris. -.ve 



143 





1^ 

4' 



should not forget, as Gladstone remarked, that 
their golden age was when the lowly Friars 
sat in the "cathedra''— when Duns Scotus, 
Alexander of Hales, Adam de Marisco, Peck- 
ham and Ockham taught the world. 

Truly can it be said that the spirit of St. 
Francis has ruled the world. His spirit has 
pervaded the whole Church in all her spiritual 
children. They have founded all of the most 
notable of the Church's Orders, to say noth- 
ing of the three great branches of the Fran- 
ciscan Order: the Friars Minor, the Minoi 



4 



144 



Capuchins, and the Minor Conventuals, and all 
the ihnumerable Sisterhoods of the Third 

Order of St. Francis. 

Again it is a well-known fact that many 
holy Founders of other Religious Orders have 
themselves been members of the Third Order 
and are thus spiritual children of St. Francis. 
For instance : St. Ignatius, founder of the 
Jesuits, and his two great followers, St. Fran- 
cis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies, and St. 

Francis Borgia. 
St. Cajetan, founder of the Theatines. 
St. Charles Borromeo, founder of the Ob- 

IcltCS 

St* Vincent de Paul, founder of the Laz- 
arists and of the Sisters of Charity. 

St Philip Neri, founder of the Oratonans. 

St' Camillus of Lellis, founder of the Ser- 
vants of the Sick. 

St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances 
de Chantal, founders of the Sisters of the 

Visitation. r u -d 

St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the ir'as- 

sionists. r ^t, -d^ 

St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Re- 

demptorists. 

St Angela, founder of the Ursulmes. 

St. John Baptist de la Salle, founder of the 

Christian Brothers. ^ , . . 

Father OHer, founder of the Sulpicians. 

145 




Dom Bosco, founder of the Salesian 
Fathers and Sisters. 

Do not all these and other Orders of the 
Church founded by Tertiaries, draw inspira- 
tion and strength from St. Francis, and is he 
not also their spiritual father, being the spir- 
itual father of their founders? Are not their 
glories, their colleges, academies, hospitals, 
orphanages, missions and other works, the 
glory of the humble St. Francis? 

Pius IX loved to call himself a son of St. 
Francis. In 1867, when he was in the great- 
est anguish, he said one day, having given his 
last money toward some charitable work: 
'Toor Pius IX has nothing left, but he com- 



146 



plains not; for he has not forgotten that he 
IS a Tertiary of St. Francis." 

Leo XIII also belonged to the Franciscan 
family, and strained all his efforts to restore 
society to the following of Christ through 
the Third Order of St. Francis. A great ma- 
jority of the College of Cardinals has always 
been members of the Third Order, and many 
of the Archbishops and Bishops of the United 
States likewise wear the humble livery of the 
Poor Man of Assisi. 

To the Third Order also belonged the great 
poets Dante, Tasso and Petrarch ; Christopher 
Columbus was a follower of St. Francis, as 
were Palestrina and Gounod, princes of 
musical art; Galvani, the discoverer of gal- 
vanism, Volta and Galileo, the scientists, and 
the painters and sculptors, Cimabue, Giotto, 
Michelangelo, Raphael, Murillo, and Leon- 
ardo da Vinci, Raymond LuUus, the Spamsh 
philosopher, Sir Thomas More, the great 
Chancellor of England, Mgr. De Segur, Vasco 
da Gama, the navigator Lope de Vega, and 
Calderon, the authors, Garcia Moreno, the 
martyr-president of Ecuador, and Frederic 
Ozanam, the founder of the St. Vincent de 

Paul Society. , 

These are only a few of the many, and yet 
what an illustrious array do they present- 
men of science, of art and literature, and 

147 




greater than all, men of piety, compared witK 
whom all the leaders of modern letters and 
science appear as pygmies. 

It would be difficult to enumerate the num- 
ber of crowned heads who have worn the 
habit of St. Francis, from Queen Catherine of 
Aragon down to Dom Pedro, the late Emperor 
of Brazil. Pre-eminent among royal Tertiaries 
are St. Louis, King of France, St. Elizabeth, 
Queen of Hungary, St. Elizabeth, Queen of 
Portugal, and St. Ferdinand, King of Spain. 
Among other children of St. Francis whose re- 
cent beatification has elevated them to the hon- 
ors of the altar are Joan of Arc and the Cure 
of Ars, both members of the Third Order. 




148 




i 



mt <0r(»n of St. IFranns in %mxm 

''Blessed is He Jkat cometk in tke name of tke 
Lord." (Ps- ^■^^*^' ^^-^ 

HE Franciscans were not 
only the first mission- 
aries in those portions 
of North America and 
other islands settled by 
the Spaniards, but also 
in the Northern regions 
along the Atlantic 
Coast discovered by 

Cabot, under the auspices of EngW^ Yj^J 
before the pilgrims anchored within Cape Cod 
L intrepid Franciscan, Le Caron, had pene 
rated S land of the Mohawk and evangehzed 
the Hurons. The first explora ion of the 
Great Lakes was made by *e ^tanky oJJ^orth 
America, the Franciscan F^'her Hen^epm 
who named Niagara Falls in honor (^ St 
Antony, a name once borne also by tne ma 
festic Hudson river, and the Franciscan John 
ofTorres was with De Soto when he discov- 
e ed the Mississippi. The glorious^ history o 
Te Franciscan missions in California^ f ound d 
by the Ven. Junipero Serra, O. F M., is wel 
known. The Venerable Father Antony Mar 
gU O. F. M., who established the mission m 
Texas, was the first person from the United 

149 



States whose process of 
canonization was intro- 1 
duced. In Mexico also, " 
as in China, and else- 
where, the Franciscans 
were the first mission- 
aries. 

In Maryland the Fran- 
ciscans appeared in the 
seventeenth century, and 
their labors in Florida 
and the South are too 
well known to require 
further comment. The 
old church at St. Augus- 
tine and the Cathedral of 
San Antonio in Texas 
were erected by children 
of St. Francis, and the 
first Bishop nominated to 
a See in the United 
States, Father Garcia 
de Padilla, O. F. M., was 
a Franciscan. Father 
Juan Perez, who ac- 
companied Columbus, 
and whose image appears 
in bronze at the doors of 
the Capitol in Washington, was celebrant of 
the first Mass offered up under western skies. 

150 



i 




\^t Wii toft 

A3 regards the 
Holy Land, the 
presence of the 
Friars Minor in Pal- 
estine dates back to 
1220, in which year 
their glorious found- 
er, St. Francis of As- 
sisi, himself visited 
the Holy Shrines, and 
presenting himself be- 
fore the Sultan, en- 
deavored to convert 
him. St. Francis left 
some of his disciples 
behind him in Pales- 
tine, who became the 
successors of the 
^Crusaders, and there 



151 



established a province which is still called 
the Custody of the Holy Land. In 1230 the 
guardianship of the Holy Places was officially 
committed to the care of the Seraphic Order 
by the Holy See, and the Franciscans have 
ever since retained it. During the interven- 
ing seven centuries more than seventy-five 
hundred of the Friars have fallen a prey 
to Mohammedan persecution, to pestilence, 
and to shipwreck, but their ranks have always 

been filled by new 
volunteers coming 
from every country 
and province of the 
Order. 

Among the innumer- 
able martyrs of the 
Holy Land we men- 
tion those of Damas- 
cus and the Blessed 
Nicholas of Sebenico, 
who suffered martyr- 
dom in Jerusalem and 
was recently beatified 
by Leo XHL The 
persecutions of the 
Turks have ranged 
from massacres to 
petty annoyances. 
The Fathers in Jeru- 



i 




V. ^ 



Bl. Nicholas of Sebenico 



152 




salem were formerly forbidden 

to build or repair their churches 

without a written permit from the Cadi, which 
always involved a heavy expense. Work was 
therefore done surreptitiously or at night, the 
debris being stored in empty rooms or carried 
out by the Friars in their sleeves. Whenever 
an opportunity offered itself, the Turks com- 
pelleS the Friars to pay them. Had drough 
prevailed, or too much rain fallen, or if the 
locusts had destroyed the harvests, or pest>len« 
had broken out,-nay, even if the Pasha s child 
had fallen ill, all these things were at once 
attributed to the Friars, who must pay what- 
ever price the Turks demanded. Presents had 
to be sent to the Cadi or the Mufti, if these 
officers chose to take another wife. Yearly 
the Pasha of Damascus would visit Jerusa- 
lem and his visit filled all with fear, for they 
knew what it meant. He at once would send 
for the Superior, stating that he needed money, 
and asking for so many thousand dollars. In 
vain would the Superior protest that he had 



153 



none. "I will lend it you," the Pasha would 
say, handing over a purse and at once taking 
it back. So the Friars not only had to pay the 
sum required, but interest on the loan as well. 
The Custody or Province of the Holy Land, 
which^ comprises all the convents and stations 
of the Order in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, 
Egypt and the Isle of Cyprus, at present com- 
prises some 450 religious of the Order of 
Friars Minor, who have jurisdiction over 
63,000 souls, speaking eleven different lan- 
guages. The Friars maintain 55 sanctuaries, 
9 convents, 42 residences, 28 parishes, 18 mis- 
sion churches, 34 chapels, 1 Seraphic college. 
6 study-houses, 5 dispensaries, two orphan 
asylums sheltering 350 orphans, and 1 printing 
office. They also conduct 1 commercial col- 
lege, 10 trade schools and 52 elementary 
schools, which are attended by 4,000 pupils. 
Indeed, the Friars have established schools 
wherever it has been possible to do so among 
the benighted natives, so that today hardly an 
Arab can be found living within their juris- 
diction who is not fairly well educated. The 
Franciscans, . moreover, maintain 415 houses, 
where poor families are lodged gratuitously, 
besides which they give support to 12,000 
poor. In addition to these institutions, they 
have 9 hospices for pilgrims, at which a cor- 
dial hospitality has always been extended to 

154 



visitors, regardless of creed or nationality. 
The Friars have exercised this charity ever 
since their establishment in Palestine, and 
have thus been a guide and protection ^.o 
countless pilgrims, who have flocked there for 
centuries. Even today there are many places 
such as Nazareth, Mt. Thabor and Tiberias, 
where the hospice of the Franciscans is the 
only refuge at which a traveler may find rest 
after a long journey on horseback. The rec- 
ords of these hospices show how highly the 
visitors have appreciated the hospitality of the 
Friars, who do everything in their power to 
make visitors feel at home without askmg 
any compensation. According to the latest 
available reports, 9,149 pilgrims received hos- 
pitality from the Friars in one year, covering 
24,354 days* board and lodging. 




155 




HE Custody or Prov- 
ince of the Holy Land 
is represented abroad 
by thirty-seven Com- 
missariats, the object 
of which is to pro- 
mote interest in the 
Holy Places in Pales- 
tine, in the countries in which they are es- 
tablished; to collect alms for the preservation 
and rescue of these Shrines, and to furnish let- 
ters of introduction to pilgrims journeying to 
the Holy Land. Of these Commissariats, 
twenty-three are in Europe, ten in South 
America, and one each in Australia, Mexico, 
Canada, and the United States. The latter 
was located at No. 143 West 95th St, New 
York City, until September 1, 1899, when it 
was removed to Mount St. Sepulchre, Wash- 
ington, D. C. Until the establishment of this 
Commissariat, the needs of the Holy Land 
were but little known among the Catholics of 
this country. Few of our people, if any, 
understood the great mission of the Church, 
to preserve the Holy Shrines of our religion, 
and to keep alive the faith in those places 

156 







Entrance to 



the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre 
in Jerusalem 



which were hallowed by the life and dea h o 
the Redeemer of mankind. This knowledge 
was brought before them through the estab- 
lishment of the Commissariat. 

157 




"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand 
be forgotten." (Ps. cxxxvi, 5.) 

pOR seven centuries the sons of St. Fran- 
cis have kept faithful guard at the Holy 
Places of Palestine. No work has been too 
great for them to undertake, no persecution 
too severe; pains and torments and even 
death have been suffered, and it is to their 
suffering and bravery that these shrines are 
today in the possession of the Catholic Church. 
Today the pious pilgrim may kneel before 
them in veneration, assist at the Holy Sacri- 
fice and receive the Sacraments; and it is to 
their labors that he owes this precious privi- 
lege. 

Yet there is much still to be done. The 
Shrines must be cared for, pilgrims enter- 

158 



tained, the poor and orphans provided for, and 
the great work of the Mission of the Hoiy 
Land prosecuted. All this requires the ex 
penditure of vast sums of money, in ord.n- 
that the work may not be neglected and ciie 
Sanctuaries fall into the hands of the Schis- 
matics and the Turks. Surely the land where 
our dear Lord lived and taught and where 
He gave up His life for our salvation ought 
to be so dear to Cathcgics as well as non- 
Catholics that they would all willingly unite 
in securing, preserving and honoring those 
sacred spots which are the common heritage 
of Christianity. In the days of old the Crusa- 
ders went forth gladly to the succor of the 
Holy Land, giving goods and gold, and, more 
than all, life itself on the field of battle. But 
now the day of the sword has passed and the 
era of peaceful methods has come in its stead. 
Yet the work of this Mission is no less im- 
portant than it was in the days of Godfrey de 
Bouillon and his brave followers, who flocked 
under the standard of the Cross. The need 
for Crusaders is as great now as ever; will 
not a spark of the old fire that burned m 
their breasts be enkindled in the hearts of 
Christians today and inspire them to bend 
their efforts toward the rescue of the land 
whence came our salvation? This work, one 
of the dearest to our Holy Mother Church, 



159 




KnightijM^ of a Crusader 

has been especially commended, for upon it 
depends the continuance of our Lord's own 
mission, the preaching of the Gospel in the 
very place where He taught the eternal 
truths. It is one of the most precious in- 
heritance of our Faith, the possession of so 
many of the spots sanctified by the presence 
of Jesus Christ in the course of His earthly 
lifetime. 

Through the Catholics of America, who put 
forth their strength and give their assistance 
to these objects which are so important and so 
deserving, our great Republic itself becomes 
in a sence a partaker in the new Crusade. It 
is not a great sacrifice that one is called to 
perform; there is no armor to be buckled on; 
no weary marches through desert lands; no 
mighty foe to be met in the onset of the con- 
flict. Instead, there is only a small contri- 



160 



bution to be made— a mite that would easily 
be spent for some insignificant trifle or other, 
whereas applied in so worthy a cause it be- 
comes a veritable treasure laid up in Heaven— 
a rich endowment of spiritual graces and bene- 
fits There is no one who should neglect the 
work begun by the Lord, for if their sup- 
port is wanting those who are in the field can- 
not continue their labors. They stand ready 
and willing to do anything required of them- 
even martyrdom itself— and those who remain 
here at home should not hesitate to make some 
little sacrifice for so great a cause. 

This good work, approved by the Holy See, 
is not yet sufficiently known in the United 
States. It carries on the work of rescuing and 
preserving the Holy Shrines, not, indeed, by 
force of arms, as of old, but by prayer and 
voluntary offerings. This Crusade is an asso- 
ciation, the members of which contribute an 
annual' offering of 25 cents towards the rescue 
and preservation of the Holy Shrines. Each 
member receives at his enrollment a copy of 
the Crusader's Almanac for the current year, a 
certificate of admission and the Crusader's 
medal, consisting of the fivefold cross, the 
emblem of the Holy Land and of the five holy 
wounds of our Lord. 

The Crusaders have a share in about 25,000 
holy Masses offered annually at the Holy 



161 



Shrines of Palestine by the Franciscan 
Fathers for the Benefactors of the Holy 
Land. By a brief of Pope Pius VI., dated 
July 13, 1778, they partake of all good works, 
prayers, fastings, penances, mortifications and 
pilgrimages performed in the Holy Land by 
the Franciscan Fathers, the pilgrims and the 
faithful. They share in the innumerable in- 
dulgences attached to the Holy Shrines, all of 
which are applicable to the souls of the faith- 
ful departed. 

The Good Work of the Holy Land has been 
approved and recommended by forty Popes in 
sixty Pontifical Bulls and Briefs, and it has 
the special blessing of our late Holy Father, 
Leo XUl, the late Cardinal McCloskey, and 
His Grace, the late Most Rev. M. A. Corrigan, 
Their Eminences, Cardinals Farley and Fal- 
conio, and His Excellency, Most Rev. John 
Bonzano, Apostolic Delegate. 



162 



m 

i 

m 

i 



A 



S the number of pilgrims and visitors to 
. - the Holy Land from the United States is 
increasing every year, the advantage of having 
American Fathers there who could speak Eng- 
lish is obvious. Apart from this, the demand 
for more missionaries in the Holy Land is 
very urgent. For example, petitions have 
been coming in to the Fathers from various 
sections of Armenia, emanating mamly from 
non-Catholics, asking that Franciscan mission- 
aries be sent to minister among them. Un- 
fortunately, however, the Friars are unable lo 
respond to these calls as fully as they would 
desire, owing to the scarcity of mission- 
aries, of whom they have only been able to 
send a small number to this vast and unfortu- 
nate country, where it may truly be said that 
the harvest, indeed, is great, but the laborers 
are few " Hence the need of more missionaries 
and, consequently, of such Colleges as that 
which has been established at Washington. _ 

This institution has obtained the hearty in- 
dorsement of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, 
and a warm recommendation from His Excel- 
lency, the former Apostolic Delegate, Mgr. 
Sebastian Martinelli, as will be seen from the 
following letters to the Commissary of the 
Holv Land: 

163 




Setter ftttm Hts ?Emttte«cr5 
Carbiital Gibbons 

r ^altimore^ February 24, 1898. 

Bev. Dear Father: ' ^^'^^^ : --^ 

I have been very mti<Jh gratified by the 
projected establishment near the Catholic 
University of Washington of a College 
under the care and auspices of the vener- 
able Franciscan Fathers. I hope that God 
will bless your pious undertaking, and I 
commend your good work to the benevo- 
lence and patronage of your friends and 
patrons, and of all who specially cherish 
the virtues of the good St. Francis, whose 
life and example you are all striving to 
imitate. 

Faithfully yours in Christ, 

SB JAMES, CABD. GIBBONS. 



Setter Uttm Hts Sxtellenty 
i the Apastalft iSelegate 



■ ."i '■, 



jv Washington; D. C, March 2, •11898. 
B^ev. Father: :t;:ir5^ 

vi" I have learned with pleasure that you 
are going to build in Washington a mon- 

164 



astery for the education of the young men 
of your illustrious order, and especial^ 
Jor^those who will be the future mission- 

nries of tlie Holy Land. ' x,. 

I hope that God will help and bless 

your good ^^-*«^Pf!-^^, the pleasure 6f 
With esteem, I have i-ne jj <= 

remaining ^^^^^ .i^cerely, 

1^ SEBASTIAN, 
Archbishop of Ephesus, 

Apostolic Delegate. 

The object of the College is the education 

of such young men as may desire to enter 

he ofder of St. Francis in view onabor.g 

as missionaries in the Holy 1<^"^ Jiere they 

v>nll after completing their novitiate, be en 
will, alter co y & ^^^^^^^ 

abled as clerics, to P"'^^"^.^^''" ." ^ ^^:„t. the 
in the Catholic University, with ^h^h ttie 
College of the Holy Land has been affiliated. 
"^Ihe course at the College of the Hob. Land 
win include speaalins-^^^^^^^^ "^^S^ 

;^nrt^^tL?--^i:r:t ;l^^^^ 

rrlcVh%he Ch^l. has entrus.^^ 
SU"ofteXoTrChris\^i. the pro- 



165 



motion of our Holy Faith in the Holy Land 
by means of missions, schools and works of* 
charity; (2) the preservation of the Sacred 
Shrines, hallowed by the life and death of our 
Saviour and His Blessed Mother; (3) the 
civilization and education of the natives to 3 
Christian and social life; (4) the protection 
and accommodation of pilgrims. 



y 




166 




■'Here am I. for Thou didst call me. Speak. Lord, 
for Thy servant heareth." d K^n9s, m, 9.) 

It cannot but appeal to generous hearts to 
follow the footsteps of our Lord on the v ry 
spots hallowed by His earthly career. To hve 
i^ the Holy Land, to work as a "^^^^^°^^^^^\ 
he places where our Lord taught and 
preached Himself, to stand guard at the Tomb 
of Christ, and to defend the rights of the 
Church at the Holy Shrines, and to serve the 
pious pilgrims, is certainly a "obk vocation 
and must be one of the greatest ambU.ons of a 
young man who aspires to rehgious 1 fe. The 
consideration of all these great Pnvjeges ^a 
prompted thousands of generous hearts m the 
course of the centuries, to abandon their 
hon^l and to devote themselves to the mis- 
sion of the Holy Land. . . 

It must be remembered however that thoe 
who wish to enter the Order of St. Francis 

167 



^ 



H 




JiiM^i^»l}Miihm]'imiumim 



i|: 



and especially those wishing to join the Col- 
lege of the Holy Land, must be ready for a 
life of mortification, and must be willing to 
suffer in their missionary career all kinds of 
hardships, persecutions, and even death, if 
necessary, as their predecessors during m'any 
centuries have suffered before them. Life in 
the Holy I^nd differs in very many respects 
from that in America, but the pious mission-, 
ary, animated by the noble sentiments of re- 
ligion and the sanctity of his calling, will not 
seek the comforts of life where his Saviour 
endured the most atrocious sufferings, but his 
whole endeavor will be to promote his own 
sanctification. 

Such boys and students as feel within 
themselves a vocation to follow this mode of 
life will be received in this College ^nd pre- 
pared for their work in the Mission of the 
Holy Land as religious in the Order of St. 
Francis. They must have a good educational 
foundation, be of a docile disposition, bright. 

168 




in'good health, and not too far advanced m 
lige The consent of their parents and of their 
pastor or confessor is- necessarily required 
The college has been placed under the special 
'fenage of St. Antony, a descendant of 
Godfrey of Bouillon, the first King of Jerusa- 
iem, M^,9i. St- Louis, the Crusader King of 

The 'college wlU also receive postulatits 
who feel a vocation for religious life and wish 
to enter. tl)e Order as lay brothers. The lay 
brothers are, as it were, the hands and feet 
of the monastic body, important parts of the 
religious life. They are to the monastery 

169 




what an industrious and peaceful people is 
to a well-ordered State, — a necessary element 
of its well-being and prosperity. The lay 
brothers are not merely unpaid laborers, they 
are not the menials of the convent; they have 
a more sacred and honorable position. They 
are the sons of the house and the brothers 
of the Fathers. Their humble toil has been 
sanctified by the Lord Himself, who deigned 
to be the **Carpenter*s Son." They are, in- 
deed, to be envied in their modest seclusion, 
for they have no responsibility weighing on 
their conscience. Having left all things they 
are truly "poor in spirit." Their work is 
turned into prayer, which is the secret of the 



170 




success of the cloister and the reason of the 
notable difference between a monastery and all 
worldly institutions. 

The monastery is not a factory nor a labor 
union; it is a haven or security in which the 
lay brother can work out more easily his 
eternal salvation. Here work is but a means 
to an end, that of the service of God and the 
sanctification of the worker. There is no sen- 
timentality in the cloister; it is solid and dis- 
interested piety. 

Postulants who come to the monastery with 
a wrong conception of God's service, picturing 
to themselves a life of quietism and contem- 
plation only, find themselves disappointed on 
seeing it one of ceaseless activity, interwoven 
with prayer and meditation. They find that 
the spiritual edifice of perfection is to be built 
up only with the rough stones of diligent in- 
dustry, cemented together by prayer and 



171 



charity. This is, in truth, the admirable way 
in which the lay brother prepares his mansion 
in the kingdom of his Heavenly Father. 

The Mission of the Holy Land is in need 
of men of various trades, such as cooks, 
bakers, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, masons, 
blacksmiths, plumbers, painters, printers, ma- 
chinists, druggists, etc. Therefore mechanics 
and artists of all sorts can make themselves 
very useful. But every one must be willing to 
perform any work, even the humblest, at 
a , command of his superior, who will not 
fail to assign to him what is in accordance 
with his special qualities and abilities, so that 
in mpst cases the Brothers will have ample op- 
portunity of continuing in the various crafts 
which they have learned in the world by work- 
ing at their trades in the missions and in the 
various trade-schools established therein. 
,,:)routh in our days is more or less penetrated 
by the ambition to excel in this world, to be 
honored and esteemed, and this false ambition 
is the reason why a great many young men 
aspire to the priesthood, for which they are 
fitted neither by sufficient knowledge nor by 
their intellectual qualities. They do not con- 
sider that the first and last aim of a religious 
must be to serve God and to work the salva- 
tJQn.of his own soul, and that this can be 
done with greater ease in the humble position 



172 



of a lay brother. St. Benedict, as well as 
St Francis, deemed themselves unworthy of 
the sacerdotal dignity, and a great nuniber of 
his saintly followers in the two great Orders, 
though men of learning in some instance?, 
have attained the summit of perfection hy de- 
voting themselves to humble duties. To be- 
come a lay brother the applicant needs neither 
learning nor riches, but only an earnest de- 
termination to follow Christ by leadmg a hte 
of work, prayer, humility and obedience. 




173 



'Half the night and all the day 
They pray, they pray, they pray, 
Happy they!" 




1 
.* 



RELIGIOUS life is 
founded deeply in 
the Gospel and is its 
most beautiful flower. 
It has the positive and 
unequivocal sanction of 



174 



Christ for those aspiring ''to be perfect" 
and "able to receive it." Nay, our Lord Him- 
self, the pattern of perfection, was, so to say, 
the 'first Christian monk, and St. John Chry- 
sostom calls monastic life ''The Divine Philos- 
ophy introduced by Christ." 

Even in the Old Testament we find the 
Nazarites who consecrated themselves to God 
by vows. Josephus speaks of these Essenes 
whose life was almost similar to that of the 

Benedictines. 

From the beginning of Christianity, many 
renounced the pleasures of the world to follow 
the vSaviour more closely. The deserts became 
populated with her- 
mits, who later on con- 
solidated into com- 
munities. Thus were 
Founded the Orders of 
St. Antony of Egypt 
and of St. Basil. 

With the develop- 
ment of Christianity 
the monastic spirit 
seized also the West. 
St. Benedict, the 
great Patriarch of 
western monasticism, 
erected his monas- 
teries upon the debris 

175 




_^'->-:^<i?^^,^ 



Spiritual Reading 



of the Roman Empire. Lord Macaulay, 
when speaking of the beneficial influence or 
the monastic institution, says : 

''Had not such retreats been scattered here 
and there among the huts of a miserable peas- 
antry and the castles of a ferocious aristoc- 
racy, European society would have consisted 
merely of beasts of burden and beasts of 
prey." 

The monasteries were beacons of light 
amidst the darkness and the tempest of the 
great migration of nations toward a new 
Christian civilization. 

"It was there,'' adds Mrs. Jameson, the 
author of 'Xegends of the Monastic Orders," 
''that learning trimmed her lamps, there con- 
templation plumed her wings, there the tradi- 
tions of art, preserved from age to age by 
lonely, studious men, kept alive, in form and 

color, the idea of a 
beauty beyond that of 
earth, of a might be- 
yond that of the spear 
and the shield, of a 
divine sympathy with 
suffering humanity." 

Apace with Chris- 
tian civilization new 
Orders sprang up in 




I 



.176 



the Church of God, each 
adapted to some special 
want in the Church. Among 
the illustrious founders none 
is more known nor more 
sympathetic than Sweet St. 
Francis, the Poor Man of 
Assisi. His rule, drawn in 
great outlines, is the strictest 
enforcement of the evangel- 
ical virtues and its chief 
feature is simplicity and 
poverty. Even our separated 
brethren cannot deny him 
their admiration and have 
sung his praises. He intro- 
duced a new system into 
monastic life which was 
democratic in opposition to 
the hitherto prevailing mon- 
archical principles. While 
the monks of old followed a 
more contem- 
plative life and 
had large pos- 
sessions, he pre- 
scribed by di- 
vine revelation 
that his fol- 
lowers should 
live on charity 




Recreation 



177 



and follow an active career for the spiritual 
regeneration of the masses. || 

He called them Friars, which means broth- 
ers, and tfie people regarded them as such. I 
They soon numbered thousands, and Cardi- ' 
nal Vaughan has admirably pictured their ac- 
tivity in the following beautiful words: "We 
find the same Friars who nursed the lepers, 
who preached from the village-crosses, who 
cheered the laborers in the harvest fields, or 
the traveler by the wayside, who helped the 
sick, the sorrowful and the sinful in the slums 
of our mediaeval cities, who amused and In- 
structed the multitudes by their miracle plays, 
are the same brotherhood who filled with dis- 
tinction the professorial chairs at Oxford, and 
so took the lead in the very van of theological 
learning as to make our English Universities 
the envy of Europe." 

The work of the monks and friars was a 
noble one, and monasticism still exercises a 
singular fascination upon the minds of our 
days. Dr. Johnson, that stanchest of Protes- 
tants, tells us that "he never thought of a mon- 
astery but in imagination he kissed its stones, 
or of a hermit, but in imagination he kissed 
his feet." While on the other hand we find 
Voltaire declaring that could the great void of 
his yearning, Christless heart have been filled 
with the love flowing from the atonement of 

178 



the God-man, he would have had no alterna- 
tive than that of being a monk. 

The monastery is to the outer world a sort 
of mysterious institution. It is in fact a com- 
monwealth, founded on the principles of the 
early Christians. There no one possesses 
anything of his own. There the day is divided 
up between prayer and work. There the prac- 
tice of the evangelical precepts and counsels 
is strictly enforced. Every action has a higher 
motive; the peace of the soul is not disturbed 
by human cares; the observance of silence 
renders the union of the soul with God easier, 
and work and study more efficacious. Com- 
mon practices of mortification lessen the hard- 
ships of a penitential life, and incite to a holy 

emulation. 

How happy is such a life, and how little can 
the blase worldling appreciate its sweetness; 
but, as in the days of the debauched Roman 
empire, so in our days of refined pleasures, the 
yearning for a more austere life fills many a 
noble soul, and God leads him into the desert 
that he may speak to Him. 



179 



"Oh, how I love those monks of old. 
The books they read and the beads they told.'* 

THOSE who are so 
profuse in denounc- 
ing the Middle Ages as 
dark, forget that we are 
indebted to the monas- 
teries for our treasures 
of science and of ancient 
literature. Whatever 
precious manuscripts the 
great libraries possess to- 
day were obtained from 
the suppression of the 
olden monasteries, where they had been 
gathered together by the untiring monks. 

As a good library is the student's armory, 
we have set aside a spacious room in our Col- 
lege for this purpose, and have also begun a 
small museum for instruction and recreation. 
In order to add to their usefulness we respect- 
fully solicit donations of books for the hbrary, 
and curios, engravings, coins, stamps and 
other suitable articles for the museum. All 
such gifts will be gratefully acknowledged, 
and information as to our needs will be gladly 
furnished by: The Librarian. 




180 



§tiMon of t^f JDl^ing 

STATISTICS show that about one hundred 
thousand persons die every day. How 
many die suddenly and unprepared! How 
many die in mortal sin and outside the faith 
How many of these are lost forever? Wi 
you help to save them by your prayers? #/*. 
you insure a happy death for yourself? 

To this end the Confraternity of the Agon- 
izing Heart of Jesus has been ejected for the 
Salvation of the Dying with the following 
conditions of membership : . . , r 

(1) Endeavor to remain in the state of 
erace (3) Offer up daily for the dying all 
holy Masses celebrated throughout the whole 
world. (3) Often say during the day: My 
Jesus, mercy '.-(300 days' indulgence each 
time). (4) Recite every day the P^^yer for 
the Dying. (5) Spend one hour a month m 
prayer for the dying. 

latlu fmm for th«^ ®«'"9 

most merciful Jesus, lover of souls Ijray 
Thee by the agony of Thy most Sacred Heart 
and by the sorrows of Thy Immaculate 
Mother, cleanse in Thy Blood the sinners of 
the whole world who are now m their agony 
and are to die this day. Amen. Agonizing 
Heart of Jesus, have mercy on the dying! 

181 



(SJit (S.hmmtm 





As dutiful children gather in the 
evening about their dear father to 
kiss him goodnight, so also all 
good Christians, before retiring, 
ought to kneel before the Cruci- 
fied Saviour to ask His blessing 
and mercy and to commend their 
souls into His hands. Our holy 
Father, Pius X, has approved this 
beautiful devotion which consists 
in an act of sorrow over our sins 
and the pious practice of kissing 
the crucifix with the words : "We 
adore Thee, O Christ, and we 
bless Thee, ' because by Thy holy 
cross Thou hast redeemed the 
world;" to which may be added 
the invocation: "My Jesus, 
mercy." This night message of 
love to our Lord, so simple and 
easy, is called the Christogram. 
It will be a means of righting our 
souls daily with God, and, if prac- 
ticed in the spirit of true devotion, 
will help us to obtain a happy 



182 



death, because our Saviour, who cannot be 
outdone in generosity, will certainly give the 
kiss of peace in the last hour to him who has 
embraced Him every night. 

This holy practice can also be repeated for 
our dear ones whom we can recommend to 
His mercy by kissing the crucifix for them 
and thus confiding them to His sweet embrace. 
How ennobling, purifying and uplifting is this 
form of piety. Like a sacred thri 1 it will 
penetrate our hearts, reminding us of His im- 
mense love for us on the Cross. 

We encourage all our readers not only to 
practice this holy devotion but to spread it 
among all their friends, that the Crucified may 
draw all hearts to Himself according to His 
own words : "And I, if I be lifted up from 
the earth, will draw all things to Myself 

(John xii, 32). . r^. • . 

We must work to renew all things in Christ 
and to establish His Kingdom in society as 
well as in the family. He must reign su- 
preme and His crucifix must occupy the place 
of honor in every house as it does m every 

" Those who wish to become Apostles of the 
Crucified can obtain from us handsome card- 
board crucifixes in colors which the modes 
price of ten cents places withm the reach of 
all. 



183 



V 



(Dor B^nrfartors 



"He that hath mercy oti the poor, lendeth to the 
Lord and He will repay him/' {Prov. xix, 17.) 




|N 



all things St. Francis 
trusted in Divine Providence 
and alms were his only re- 
source. When people collected 
around him in the public 
places, he explained to them 
that he had undertaken to re- 
construct the church of St. 
Damian, and for that purpose he required 
stones, which he begged from the generosity 
of his fellow townsmen. "He who gives me 
one," he said, "will have one recompense, he 
who gives me two will have two recompenses, 
he who gives me three will have three," and 
these promises still hold good toward those 
who aid the Sons of St. Francis in erecting 
churches and other buildings for their Order. 
Like our Holy Father therefore we are not 
ashamed to ask the fellow citizens of our 
glorious country to help us in our good work. 
From the mighty and wealthy we htg for a 
mite, from the poor we ask a prayer and a 
blessing. 

Every contribution, even the smallest, will 
be gratefully appreciated, as much assistance 



184 



is needed. Charity is ingenious and will in- 
spire our friends how best to help us in pro- 
viding for the wants of our Church and Mon- 
astery by gifts of sacred vessels, vestments, 
altar linen, and church furniture or by dona- 
tions of votive lamps and other decorations 

for the Shrines. 

God has blessed many with abundant means 
Let them, in their turn, bless God for His 
tindness by devoting a part ojtheir surplus 
means to His greater glory like our fore- 
fathers who have erected churches and char- 
itable institutions in His honor The chil- 
dren of the world contribute -11--^^-;^^ 
monuments of great men, towards opera 
houses and theatres ; would the children of 
God not do as much for His Divine majesty 
Mount St. Sepulchre, the great memorial o 
the Holy Land, affords to generous souls a 
pendid opportunity to erect a monument 
to their name, by the foundation of some holy 
Shrine, where the pilgrims of future genera- 
tions may kneel in holy devotion, remembering 
the piety of their benefactors which has en 
abled them to view, as in a mirage, the Holy 

Places of Palestine. • j , far 

Such a monument we have m mind a fac- 
simile of the Grotto of the Agony, as it exists 
X in Jerusalem. It will be the Shnne o 
he ifflicted, where the faithful may pour out 



185 




The Grotto of the Agony, Gethsemani 

their grief into the Agonizing Heart of Jesus. 
For the erection of this Memoriai of Divine 
Sorrows we solicit, like St. Francis, a stone 
in remembrance of the tears and anguish of 
our dear Saviour. 

It is not our intention to prejudice home 
duties and charities. We only gather the 
crumhs that fall from the table of your 
abundance. They may be a means of atone- 
ment for many a false step in life or for wan- 
ton waste of earthly goods and will con- 
ciliate the loving Heart of Jesus in your favor. 

The following words from the Imitation of 
Christ are well worth considering: 

"Trust not in thy friends and relatives, nor 

186 



nut off the welfare of thy soul to hereafter : 
for men will sooner forget thee than thou 
imaginest. It is better now to provide in time 
and send some good before thee than to trust 
to the help of others after thy death If thou 
art not now careful for thyself, who will be 
careful for thee hereafter?" ^ _ 

Who among the numerous beneficiaries of 
God's bounty will assist us in our pious under- 

^^Asl' token of our gratitude we shall reward 
our Benefactors with a leaf from the old ohve 
trees that grow in the garden of Gethseman. 
in the soil sprinkled with the saving blood of 
our Saviour. 



187 



? - ■ J* f i m*. 






? /-; »-- 



1 ? '«> 






B jOiorii of tftanis 



\^E cannot close these pages without giving 
.^^ some expression of thanks to our in- 
numerable benefactors who have contributed 
a stone," large or small, toward the Church 
of Mount St. Sepulchre. God has counted 
them and recorded their names. We take 
special pride in the fact that the poor have 
helped us so generously. 

We likewise express our gratitude to those 
kmd-hearted benefactors who have donated me- 
morial altars, statues, windows, candelabra, chal- 
ices, vestments, altar linens, and furniture Our 
daily prayers shall rise to heaven in their behalf. 

Our recognition is 
also due to the archi- 
tect, Mr. Aristides Leo- 
nori, who planned the 
beautiful structure, as 
well as to his brother, 
Pio Leonori, who super- 
intended the work. We 
likewise gratefully re- 
member the faithful 
services of Mr. John 
S. Larcombe, the con- 
tractor, and Mr. John 
Earley, the sculptor. 

188 




Mr. Aristides Leonori 



5:30, 6, 7:30 arid 9 a. m.; Compline ana 
Benediction at 3 :30 p. m. . 
Week Days: Holy Masses at 5:30, 6, and 

7 a. m. 

Every Tuesday: Holy Mass at 9 a. m-, fol- 
lowed , by Benediction and Devotions m 
■honor' of St. Antony. 

Every Friday: Stations of the Cross at 3 
p m., followed by Benediction. 

Besides the regular liturgical /«-^*;7; f^ 
following are held throughout the year . 

Christmas: Solemn Matins and Midnight 

. Mass, followed by Procession to the 
Grotto of Bethlehem. ^ 

Holy Week: Spy Wednesday, 4 p. m., Tene- 

brae. . , /r a 

Maundy Thursday, 9 a. m., Holy Mass and 
General Communion; 4 p. m,, Teneb,ae, 
8 p. m., Washing of the Feet. 
GooS Friday, 9 a. m., Mass of the Pre- 
sanctified, and singing of the Passion, 4 
p. m., Tenebrae; 8 p. m., Burial of our 
Lord. 

189 



Holy Saturday, 8 a. m., Singing of the 
Prophecies, the Blessings, and Holy Mass ; 
8 p. m., the Resurrection. 

Easter Day, Solemn High Mass and Proces- 
sion and the Singing of the Four Gospels. 

Corpus Christi: Solemn High Mass and Pro- 
cession with the Blessed Sacrament 
through the Monastery grounds. 

Feast of St, Antony (June 13) : Blessing of 
the Lilies, Procession and Solemn High 
Mass. 

Feast af Portiuncula; The great Indulgence, 
beginning at noon, August 1st, and last- 
ing until midnight of August 2nd. 

Feast of St. Francis (October 4) : Solemn 
High Mass by the Dominican Fathers. 
In the afternoon, Benediction, Procession 
to the Alverna Chapel, and chanting of 
the Transitus, i, e., the "Passing Away" 
of St. Francis. 

All Souls' Day (November 2) : Solemn Re- 
quiem Mass, followed by Procession to the 
Cemetery, and Absolution. 



ii 



190 



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'TA^ Lor^i &/^^^ thee and keep thee. ^ May 
He show His face to thee and have pity on 
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thee and give thee peace. The Lord bless thee. 

191 



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